System and method for the real-time transfer of loyalty points between accounts

ABSTRACT

The invention includes facilitating the substantially real-time transfer of loyalty points between accounts. The method and system include receiving a transfer request (e.g., consumer request, triggering event, etc) for a transfer of a certain number of loyalty points, accessing and analyzing the total number of loyalty points in the transferor account to determine if a sufficient number of points exist, analyzing the type/level of consumer and type/level of points to be involved in the transfer, deducting the requested loyalty points from the transferor account, determining if any rules exist for restricting or limiting the transfer of points, using a conversion engine to convert the point value to an appropriate point value in the transferee account and increasing the point balance in the transferee account.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation of, U.S. Ser.No. 10/378,456, filed Mar. 3, 2003 and entitled “System and Method forthe Real-Time Transfer of Loyalty Points Between Accounts”. The '456application claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S.Ser. No. 10/027,984, filed Dec. 21, 2001 and entitled “System and Methodfor Networked Loyalty Program.” The '984 application claims priority to,and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. Pat. No. 7,398,225, issued Jul.8, 2008 and entitled “System and Method for Networked Loyalty Program”,which itself claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S. ProvisionalSer. No. 60/279,817, filed Mar. 29, 2001 and entitled “System and Methodfor Networked Incentive Awards Program”. This application herebyincorporates by reference all of these prior applications in theirentireties.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to incentive and awardsredemption programs and, more specifically, to the substantiallyreal-time transfer of loyalty points between consumer loyalty accounts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Incentive award programs have been developed in a variety of industriesto promote customer loyalty. Generally, such programs reward customersfor repeat business with the same merchant or service provider byaccumulating reward points which can then be redeemed in a plurality ofways, including exchanging the reward points for additional goods andservices that may be selected from an approved list or a redemptioncatalog, for example. The reward points are usually calculated using apredetermined formula or ratio that relates a customer's purchase volume(i.e., in terms of money value or some other volume parameter) to acertain number of reward points. For example, reward points may beissued on a one-for-one basis with each dollar that a customer spends onparticular goods and services.

One well-known example of a customer incentive program is a “frequentflyer” program which rewards airlines passengers with “mileage points”based upon the distances that the passengers fly with a particularairline. The mileage points may then be redeemed for free airfare orfree car rentals. Other incentive award programs are designed to induceusage of particular financial instruments, such as credit cards or debitcards, by accumulating reward points or dollar value points based uponthe volume of purchases made using the particular financial instrument.These types of programs may be designed such that customers of thefinancial institution accumulate reward points which can be redeemed forselected goods or services or, alternatively, such that customersaccumulate points which have a dollar value which can be applied towarda credit or debit balance, depending on whether the instrument is acredit or debit instrument, for example.

These and other similar incentive award programs are described in U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,774,870 and 6,009,412, issued to Thomas W. Storey andassigned to Netcentives, Inc., both of which are hereby incorporated byreference to the extent that they describe an automated rewards system.For more information on loyalty systems, transaction systems, electroniccommerce systems, and digital wallet systems, see, for example: the ShopAMEX™ system as disclosed in Ser. No. 60/230,190 filed Sep. 5, 2000; theMR as Currency™ and Loyalty Rewards Systems as disclosed in Ser. No.60/197,296 filed on Apr. 14, 2000, Ser. No. 60/200,492 filed Apr. 28,2000, and Ser. No. 60/201,114 filed May 2, 2000; a digital wallet systemas disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 09/652,899 filed Aug. 31, 2000; a storedvalue card as disclosed in Ser. No. 09/241,188 filed on Feb. 1, 1999; asystem for facilitating transactions using secondary transaction numbersas disclosed in Ser. No. 09/800,461 filed on Mar. 7, 2001; and also inrelated provisional application Ser. No. 60/187,620 filed Mar. 7, 2000,Ser. No. 60/200,625 filed Apr. 28, 2000, and Ser. No. 60/213,323 filedMay 22, 2000; all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Otherexamples of online membership reward systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 5,774,870, issued on Jun. 30, 1998, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,412,issued on Dec. 29, 1999, both of which are hereby incorporated byreference. A further example of a loyalty and reward program may befound at the AIR MILES® Web site (www.airmiles.ca), which describes aloyalty program offered by The Loyalty Group, a privately held divisionof Alliance Data Systems of Dallas, Tex., and which is herebyincorporated by reference. Additional information relating to smart cardand smart card reader payment technology is disclosed in Ser. No.60/232,040, filed on Sep. 12, 2000, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,742,845,5,898,838 and 5,905,908, owned by Datascape; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference. Information on point-of-sale systems and theexploitation of point-of-sale data is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,832,457, issued on Nov. 3, 1998 to O'Brien et al., which is herebyincorporated by reference.

Portions of each of the above-described programs may be used to inducecustomer loyalty to particular merchants or service providers whodirectly provide goods or services to the consumer. In other words,these prior art frequency awards programs provide a means for retailbusinesses, financial institutions, and others in direct contact withthe customers they service to provide incentives to their customers toencourage repeat and/or volume business. However, these programs do notsufficiently address the similar needs of businesses that are further upin the distribution chain, such as manufacturers, to promote volumepurchases by customers based upon, for example, brand loyaltyindependent of the retail source for the purchase. Additionally, theprior art programs do not provide a means for monitoring, tracking,and/or analyzing consumer and product data across distribution channelsfor a particular manufacturer and/or the variety of goods which thatmanufacturer places into the stream of commerce for ultimate sale toconsumers by a retailer.

Generally, before a product arrives at a retail establishment for saleto a consumer, the product travels through a distribution chain whichoriginates with the manufacturer. The manufacturer typically sells itsproducts to a wholesaler who in turn sells those products to variousretailers. Most modern retailers implement some form of computerizationor electronic technology in their day-to-day operations. This technologytypically consists of using point-of-sale (POS) systems for automatingcheckout procedures, assisting sales personnel, and the like. POSsystems generally include one or more automated check-out terminalswhich are capable of inputting or sensing and interpreting a symbol orother indicia related to the product, such as a Universal Product Code(UPC), generally comprising a machine-readable bar code coupled with ahuman-readable UPC number, that is printed on a label or tag which isplaced on each item of merchandise to be purchased. The manufacturer mayassign and mark each product that it sells with a UPC. Conventionally,once the product reaches the retailer, the retailer further identifieseach product with a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number or code as well asother information for identifying a specific item or style ofmerchandise. The retailer's SKU number may be either an entirelydifferent number used to identify each product (e.g., by style) or amodified version of the manufacturer's UPC number, derived, perhaps, byadding a SKU number to the UPC number, for example.

A POS terminal, a kiosk terminal, or a sales person's hand-held terminalmight be coupled to a store computer system, such as a network server orsome other store platform host, which is able to recognize and processUPC and/or SKU information which has been manually keyed-in or sensedand interpreted by a device, such as a barcode reader, coupled to theterminal. The computer system typically includes a database which storesinformation relating to the retailer's product inventory, such asstocked merchandise, a UPC and/or SKU number for each item ofmerchandise, and various types of merchandise identificationinformation, such as price, inventory, style, color, size, etc., whichis associated with each UPC and/or SKU number. When a customer purchasesan item of merchandise, store personnel frequently use an automatedterminal to read the barcode markings which are attached to the item. Acomputer interprets the UPC and/or SKU number comprised by the barcode,accesses the database to determine the price for each item, andmaintains a running total of the total transaction price.

One problem that results from the independent identification schemes ofthe manufacturer and the retailers is that there is no way for themanufacturer to track the quantity of any particular product that eachretailer sold. For example, even if a manufacturer obtains all of theSKU numbers representing items purchased from Retailer 1 and Retailer 2by consumers, the manufacturer has no means for determining which SKUnumber corresponds to the manufacturer's UPC, since the UPC's and SKUnumbers of the various retailers are not tracked and matched.

In view of the foregoing, a need exists for an incentive or loyaltyprogram which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art. Thus, thereis a need for a system and method which provides a universal customerincentive program that networks various levels of the productdistribution chain, such as manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers,to provide incentives to consumers to purchase products not only from aparticular merchant or group of merchants but also from particularmanufacturers, regardless of the specific merchant who sells themanufacturer's products to the consumer. There is also a need for asystem and method for gathering data which associates particularconsumer purchasing behaviors and specific products or product criteriaacross a manufacturer's distribution channels. Further, there is a needfor a system and method for providing incentives to supplementarymembers of an aggregate consumer account to purchase products not onlyfrom a particular merchant or group of merchants but also fromparticular manufacturers who are not necessarily related to the specificmerchant who sells the manufacturer's products to the supplementarymember. Additionally, there is a need for a system and method forgathering data which associates particular supplementary memberpurchasing behaviors and specific products or product criteria across amanufacturer's distribution channels.

Loyalty point systems typically include individual consumer loyaltypoint accounts which record the balance of loyalty points earned by theindividual consumer. The consumer may be part of a family ororganization and the consumer may desire to share or transfer theconsumer's loyalty points to other members of the consumer's family ororganization. Moreover, a consumer may immediately need additionalloyalty points in his or her own loyalty account in order to have asufficient number of loyalty points for a certain award. The consumermay also know of a friend or relative who has excess loyalty points thatthey would gladly transfer to the consumer in need of additional loyaltypoints. However, because many loyalty point accounts are associated witha single consumer, existing loyalty systems do not allow a consumer toefficiently transfer loyalty points to another consumer loyalty pointaccount. Moreover, while some loyalty accounts may allow the consumer touse the loyalty points to purchase gifts for others, the loyalty pointsare not sufficiently transferable to another consumer such that theother consumer can purchase the same gift or aggregate points for adifferent gift.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a system for implementing a loyaltyprogram on a network-wide level. The system associates UPC and SKU dataon a network level to reward consumers and/or to analyze the data for avariety of business purposes, such as market segmentation analysesand/or analyses relating to consumer spending behaviors or patterns, forexample. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the associationof UPC and SKU data by the system facilitates implementation of anincentive or loyalty program by providing a universal rewards currency.This universal rewards currency may be “spent” by participants who haveearned rewards and accepted by the other participants in themulti-tiered network created by the system. The network may comprise anynumber of participants, including consumers (such primary andsupplementary members of an aggregate consumer account), retailers (andany of their employees), manufacturers, third-party providers, and thelike. In accordance with one aspect, the system enables participation bysupplementary members who are associated with a primary member and, inthis manner, facilitates the tracking of supplementary member purchasingbehavior, reward points earning behavior, and reward points redemptionbehavior. In accordance with another aspect, the system permits instantenrollment of consumers at a retailer point-of-sale using informationthat the retailer has previously gathered from the consumer. Inaccordance with another aspect, the system facilitates the compilationof a purchaser profile, which may be used for a variety of purposes,including various types of marketing analyses.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the association ofUPC and SKU data by the system facilitates data analysis on a networklevel based upon any of several factors, including a consumer ID,consumer profile, purchaser profile, supplementary member ID,supplementary member profile, retailer ID, SKU number, UPC, manufacturerID, and/or the like. The system may compile any of the above data acrossmultiple entities for the purpose of data analysis, such as analyseswhich may be employed in strategic planning and marketing for example.In one aspect, the system facilitates data analysis regarding each ofthe individual members of a group, such as a household, a business, acharitable organization, or any other group designated by a primarymember, thereby enhancing the ability of the present system to reachthese individual members.

The invention includes facilitating the substantially real-time transferof loyalty points between accounts. In an exemplary embodiment, themethod and system include receiving a transfer request to transferloyalty points from a first loyalty account to a second loyalty account,acquiring data related to a loyalty point balance of a first loyaltyaccount, deducting a portion of the loyalty point balance of the firstloyalty account and crediting a loyalty point balance of the secondloyalty account. The transfer request may include, for example,receiving a request from a consumer associated with the first loyaltyaccount, receiving a request from a consumer associated with the secondloyalty account, receiving a request from a third party, receiving arequest based upon a triggering event or receiving a request to returnpoints to the first loyalty account. A triggering event may include, forexample, the first loyalty account having a loyalty point balance whichis below a certain threshold amount, the first loyalty account remaininginactive for a certain time period, a predetermined time period, acertain date, a random date, a requested time, a certain formula, anevent, a non-event, or a predetermined data point.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional aspects of the present invention will become evident uponreviewing the non-limiting embodiments described in the specificationand the claims, in conjunction with the accompanying figures, whereinlike numerals designate like elements, and wherein:

FIGS. 1, 3, and 4 are schematic block diagrams illustrating exemplaryincentive systems in accordance with various aspects of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for instantenrollment at a point-of-sale in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary central rewardsmechanism in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary rewards server inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for capturingand processing POS SKU data in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for associatingSKU data and UPC data in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary profiling system inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary profiler inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generatinga purchaser profile in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process forstandardizing a transaction file in accordance with the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following disclosure presents and describes various exemplaryembodiments in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the invention, and it should be understood that otherembodiments may be realized without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Thus, the following detailed description is presentedfor purposes of illustration only, and not of limitation, and the scopeof the invention is defined solely by the appended claims.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components and various processing steps. It should be appreciatedthat such functional blocks may be realized by any number of hardwareand/or software components configured to perform the specifiedfunctions. For example, the present invention may employ variousintegrated circuit components (e.g., memory elements, processingelements, logic elements, look-up tables, and the like), which may carryout a variety of functions under the control of one or moremicroprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, the softwareelements of the present invention may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, or the like, with the various algorithms beingimplemented with any combination of data structures, objects, processes,routines, or other programming elements. Further, it should be notedthat the present invention may employ any number of conventionaltechniques for data transmission, signaling, data processing, networkcontrol, and the like. For a basic introduction to cryptography, pleasereview a text written by Bruce Schneider which is entitled “AppliedCryptography: Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” published byJohn Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996), which is hereby incorporatedby reference.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the variousfigures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in a practicalincentive system implemented in accordance with the invention.

Communication between participants in the system of the presentinvention is accomplished through any suitable communication means, suchas, for example, a telephone network, public switch telephone network,intranet, Internet, extranet, WAN, LAN, point of interaction device(e.g., point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellular phone,kiosk terminal, automated teller machine (ATM), etc.), onlinecommunications, off-line communications, wireless communications,satellite communications, and/or the like. One skilled in the art willalso appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, orcomponents of the present invention may consist of any combination ofdatabases or components at a single location or at multiple locations,wherein each database or system includes any of various suitablesecurity features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption,de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

It further will be appreciated that users may interact with the systemvia any input device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk, personal digitalassistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®), cellular phone, and/orthe like. Similarly, the invention could be used in conjunction with anytype of personal computer, network computer, workstation, minicomputer,mainframe, or the like, running any operating system, such as anyversion of Windows, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows 95,MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, or the like. Moreover, although theinvention may be described herein as being implemented with TCP/IPcommunications protocols, it will be readily understood that theinvention could also be implemented using IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS,OSI, or any number of existing or future protocols. Moreover, the systemcontemplates the use, sale, or distribution of any goods, services, orinformation over any network having functionality similar to that whichis described herein.

Each participant or user of the system of the present invention,including purchasers, retailers, manufacturers, and third-partyproviders, may be equipped with a suitable computing system tofacilitate online communications and transactions with any otherparticipant. For example, some or all participants may have access to acomputing unit in the form of a personal computer, although other typesof computing units may be used, including laptops, notebooks, handheldcomputers, set-top boxes, kiosk terminals, and the like. Additionally,other participants may have computing systems which may be implementedin the form of a computer-server, a PC server, a networked set ofcomputers, or any other suitable implementations which are known in theart or may hereafter be devised.

The computing systems may be connected with each other via a datacommunications network, as described more fully above. For example, thenetwork may be a public network, which is assumed to be insecure andopen to eavesdroppers. In one embodiment, the network is embodied as theInternet. In this context, the computers may or may not be connected tothe Internet at all times. For instance, the consumer's computer mayemploy a modem to connect occasionally to the Internet, whereas theretailer computing system, the manufacturer computing system, and thecentral rewards mechanism might maintain a permanent connection to theInternet. It is noted that the network may be implemented as other typesof networks, such as an interactive television (ITV) network.

The retailer's computer system may also be interconnected to athird-party provider via a second network, referred to as a paymentnetwork. The payment network represents existing proprietary networksthat presently accommodate transactions for credit cards, debit cards,and other types of financial instruments or banking cards. The paymentnetwork is a closed network that is assumed to be secure fromeavesdroppers. Examples of the payment network include the AmericanExpress®, VisaNet®, and the Veriphone® networks.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of anentirely software embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or anembodiment combining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore,the present invention may take the form of a computer program product ona computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The present invention is described below with reference to blockdiagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (e.g.,systems), and computer program products according to various aspects ofthe invention. It will be understood that each functional block of theblock diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, and combinations offunctional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations,respectively, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionswhich execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process, such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose, hardware-based computer systems which performthe specified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

As used herein, the terms “user” and “participant” shall interchangeablyrefer to any person, entity, charitable organization, machine, hardware,software, or business who accesses and uses the system of the invention,including consumers (such as primary members and supplementary membersof an aggregate consumer account), retailers, manufacturers, andthird-party providers. Participants in the system may interact with oneanother either online or off-line.

As used herein, the term “online” refers to interactive communicationsthat take place between participants who are remotely located from oneanother, including communication through any of the networks orcommunications means described above or the like.

The term “manufacturer” shall include any person, entity, charitableorganization, machine, software, hardware, and/or the like thatmanufactures, distributes, or originates a product or service which mayultimately be offered to a consumer directly or indirectly through aretailer. The term “manufacturer” may also include any party thatgenerates and/or provides manufacturer item identifiers.

The term “retailer” shall include any person, entity, charitableorganization, machine, software, hardware, and/or the like that thatoffers a product or service to a consumer. As used herein, the term“retailer” is used interchangeably with the term “merchant”. Moreover,in this context, a retailer or merchant may offer or sell, either onlineor offline, products and/or services made or supplied by at least onemanufacturer.

As used herein, the phrases “network level” and “network-wide level”shall refer to a system that includes more than one retailer and atleast one manufacturer.

As used herein, the terms “purchaser”, “customer”, “consumer”, “primarymember”, and “end-user” may be used interchangeably with each other, andeach shall mean any person, entity, charitable organization, or businesswhich uses a consumer ID to participate in the present system.

A “consumer ID”, as used herein, includes any device, code, or otheridentifier suitably configured to allow a consumer to interact orcommunicate with the system, such as, for example, a rewards card,charge card, credit card, debit card, prepaid card, telephone card,smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card, authorization/accesscode, personal identification number (PIN), Internet code, otheridentification code, and/or the like. Additionally, a “consumer ID” maycomprise any form of electronic, magnetic, and/or optical device capableof transmitting or downloading data from itself to a second device whichis capable of interacting and communicating with such forms of consumerID.

“Consumer enrollment data” may comprise any of the following: name;address; date of birth; social security number; email address; gender;the names of any household members; a credit card number for chargingany fees that may be associated with participation in the system; surveydata; interests; educational level; spending trends; and/or anypreferred brand names. A consumer may register to participate in thepresent system by any methods known and practiced in the art. Forexample, a consumer may be enrolled automatically (e.g., if the consumerholds an existing consumer account with the system administrator), overthe phone, at the point of sale (e.g., through a paper application, averbal interview, or instant enrollment using a retailer loyaltyidentifier, as described below), through the mail, or through instantenrollment online. Upon enrollment, the consumer receives a consumer IDthat is associated with a consumer account. Enrollment data may beupdated periodically, either by the consumer requesting that the data beupdated to reflect changes or additions or the system requesting thatthe consumer review and update the data as needed, for example.

As used herein, a “retailer loyalty identifier” may include any device,code, or other identifier which permits a consumer to interact orcommunicate with a retailer system, including a retailer terminal, andindicate their participation in a retailer loyalty program which may beoffered by a particular retailer or a group of retailers. Exemplaryretailer loyalty identifiers may comprise any of the following: arewards card, charge card, credit card, debit card, prepaid card,telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar code card,authorization/access code, personal identification number (PIN),Internet code, other identification code, radio frequency card and/orthe like. Additionally, a retailer loyalty identifier may comprise anyform of plastic, electronic, magnetic, radio frequency, audio and/oroptical device capable of transmitting or downloading data from itselfto a second device which is capable of interacting and communicatingwith such retailer loyalty identifiers.

As used herein, a “consumer account” shall mean any account whichspecifies a consumer as a holder of the account and which posts,records, stores, or tracks a consumer's activity that is related toparticipation in the loyalty program. In one embodiment, the consumeraccount may post or record any of the following types of information:purchasing activity (e.g., items purchased and/or purchase amounts),reward points earning activity, reward points redemption activity, bonusofferings activity, and the like.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the consumer ID may beassociated with an aggregate consumer account which specifies theconsumer as a primary member and permits the association of any numberof supplementary members with the primary member. In one embodiment,supplementary members are affiliated with the primary member, such as bybeing a member of the primary member's household, business,organization, and the like. In another embodiment, supplementary membersare selected by the primary member for association with the primarymember's aggregate consumer account on any basis deemed suitable by theprimary member. For example, a primary member may associate friends,co-workers, family members, or any other group of individuals orentities. In one embodiment, both primary members and supplementarymembers may earn and redeem reward points which are posted to theaggregate consumer account or to any of several accounts that may beassociated with the aggregate consumer account. In another embodiment, asupplementary member may only redeem reward points which that particularsupplementary member has earned. In a further embodiment, asupplementary member may only redeem a quantity of reward points whichthe primary member has authorized for redemption by that particularsupplementary member.

As used herein, the phrase “aggregate consumer account” shall mean anyaccount which specifies a primary member and permits the association ofany number of supplementary members with the primary member. In oneembodiment, an aggregate account may be the sole account that associatesthe primary member with the supplementary members and reflects theactivity of the primary member and any supplementary members. In anotherembodiment, an aggregate consumer account may be associated withmultiple accounts that may each be associated with a supplementarymember. For example, an aggregate consumer account may aggregate andpost, record, store, or track all relevant activity engaged in by theprimary member and any supplementary members that are associated withthe aggregate consumer account. This aggregate activity may be reportedsolely to the primary member. Further, each supplementary member may beassociated with a sub-account which posts only activity engaged in bythe particular supplementary member. The activity in this sub-accountmay be reported only to the supplementary member associated with thesub-account. In this manner, the primary member may oversee the activityof each of the supplementary members, but each of the supplementarymembers cannot oversee the activity of either the primary member orother supplementary members.

The phrase “supplementary member” shall mean any person, entity,charitable organization, or business which uses a supplementary memberID to participate in the present system. It will be appreciated that, incertain contexts, the phrase “supplementary member” may be usedinterchangeably with the terms “purchaser”, “customer”, “consumer”, and“end-user”, since a “supplementary member” is a particular type of“consumer”. A “supplementary member ID”, as used herein, includes anydevice, code, or other identifier suitably configured to allow asupplementary member to interact or communicate with the system, suchas, for example, a rewards card, charge card, credit card, debit card,prepaid card, telephone card, smart card, magnetic stripe card, bar codecard, authorization/access code, personal identification number (PIN),Internet code, other identification code, and/or the like. Additionally,a “supplementary member ID” may comprise any form of electronic,magnetic, and/or optical device capable of transmitting or downloadingdata from itself to a second device which is capable of interacting andcommunicating with such forms of supplementary member ID.

A supplementary member may be registered to participate in the presentsystem by any methods known and practiced in the art. In one embodiment,a supplementary member is registered by a primary member. For example, asupplementary member may be enrolled by a primary member over the phone,at the point of sale (e.g., through a paper application, verbalinterview, or instant enrollment using a retailer loyalty identifier),through the mail, or through instant enrollment online. In anotherembodiment, a supplementary member is authorized to register by aprimary member, and the supplementary member self-enrolls in view of theauthorization. For example, a primary member may provide the systemadministrator with some indicia of authority to process the registrationof a supplementary member, if and when the authorized supplementarymember chooses to enroll in the system. The indicia of authority mayinclude any suitable information, such as, for example, any of thefollowing information regarding the supplementary member: name, address,social security number, employee number, date of birth, and the like.Supplementary member enrollment data may comprise any of the following:name; address; date of birth; social security number; email address;gender; a credit card number for charging any fees that may beassociated with participation in the system; survey data; interests;educational level; and/or any preferred brand names. Upon enrollment,the supplementary member receives a supplementary member ID which isassociated with the primary member's aggregate consumer account. In oneembodiment, the supplementary member ID may also be associated with,related to, identical to, contain a portion of, or expand upon theprimary member's consumer ID.

A “consumer profile”, as used herein, shall refer to any data used tocharacterize a consumer and/or the behavior of a consumer. In thecontext of a commercial transaction, “a consumer profile” shall beunderstood to include, for example, the time and date of a particularpurchase, the frequency of purchases, the volume/quantity of purchases,the transaction size (price), and/or the like. Additionally, in othertransactional contexts, the term “consumer profile” shall also beunderstood to include non-purchase behaviors of a consumer, such asconsumer enrollment data, visiting a Web site, referrals of prospectiveparticipants in the system, completion of a survey or other informationgathering instrument, and/or the like. For instance, a participatingonline consumer may earn reward points automatically through atriggering event, such as visiting a Web site, completing an onlinesurvey, or clicking on a banner advertisement for example. Offline, aparticipating consumer may earn reward points by completing a task orshowing their consumer ID to the cashier and triggering the cashier toprovide a “behavior” ID which may be input (e.g., by scanning a bar codeon a paper survey for example) into the POS terminal. Further, anyaspects of the consumer profile may be used in the context of dataanalysis.

A “supplementary member profile”, as used herein, shall refer to anydata used to characterize a supplementary member and/or the behavior ofa supplementary member. In the context of a commercial transaction, “asupplementary member profile” shall be understood to include, forexample, the time and date of a particular purchase, the frequency ofpurchases, the volume/quantity of purchases, the transaction size(price), and/or the like. Additionally, in other transactional contexts,the term “supplementary member profile” shall also be understood toinclude non-purchase behaviors of a supplementary member, such assupplementary member enrollment data, visiting a Web site, referrals ofprospective participants in the system, completion of a survey or otherinformation gathering instrument, and/or the like. For instance, aparticipating online supplementary member may earn reward pointsautomatically through a triggering event, such as visiting a Web site,completing an online survey, or clicking on a banner advertisement forexample. Offline, a participating supplementary member may earn rewardpoints by completing a task or showing their supplementary member ID toa cashier and triggering the cashier to provide a “behavior” ID whichmay be input (e.g., by scanning a bar code on a paper survey forexample) into the POS terminal. Further, any aspects of thesupplementary member profile may be used in the context of dataanalysis.

A “third-party provider” may comprise any additional provider of goodsand/or services to a consumer. Specifically, a “third-party provider”includes any party other than the particular manufacturer and retailerwho is involved in a transaction with a consumer. A third-party providermay include, for example, a financial institution, such as a bank or anissuer of a financial instrument (such as a credit card or a debitcard). A third-party provider may also include a provider of goods andservices which are offered as awards to consumers in exchange for arequisite number of reward points.

Though the invention may generically be described with reference to aseries of transactions which transfer a good or service from anoriginating party to an intermediary party and a subsequent transactionwhich transfers the good or service from the intermediary party to anend-user of that good or service, for convenience and purposes ofbrevity and consistency, the present disclosure generally refers to theoriginating party as a “manufacturer”, the intermediary party as a“retailer”, the end-user as a “consumer” (including primary membersand/or supplementary members), and a good or service as a “product” or“item”. However, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in theart that the retailer need not provide a product or item to a consumerin exchange for monetary currency. While this often may be the case, thepresent disclosure is not so limited and includes transactions which maybe gratuitous in nature, whereby the retailer transfers a product oritem to a consumer without the consumer providing any currency or othervalue in exchange. It is further noted that additional participants,referred to as third-party providers, may be involved in some phases ofthe transaction, though these participants are not shown. Exemplarythird-party providers may include financial institutions, such as banks,credit card companies, card sponsoring companies, or issuers of creditwho may be under contract with financial institutions. It will beappreciated that any number of consumers, retailers, manufacturers,third-party providers, and the like may participate in the system of thepresent invention.

As used herein, the term “UPC” and the phrase “manufacturer itemidentifier” shall refer to any symbol or indicia which providesinformation and, in an exemplary embodiment, shall refer to any number,code, or identifier assigned by a manufacturer and associated with anitem, including any type of goods and/or services, ultimately offered toa consumer or other end-user.

Colloquially, a UPC is sometimes referred to as a SKU number. However,as used herein, the term “SKU” and the phrase “retailer item identifier”shall refer to any symbol or indicia which provides additionalinformation and, in an exemplary embodiment, shall refer to any number,code, or identifier assigned by a retailer and associated with an item,including any type of goods and/or services, offered to a consumer orother end-user (such as a supplementary member for example).

“Purchase data”, as used herein, comprises data relating to the offer ofany item to a consumer, supplementary member, or other user of goodsand/or services. Purchase data may include data regarding any or all ofthe following: an item purchased; an item price; a number of itemspurchased; a total transaction price; a payment vehicle (e.g., cash,credit card, debit card, check, etc.); a time, date, and/or day of theweek associated with a purchase; a store identifier; an employeeidentifier; a retailer item identifier; a loyalty identifier; a retailerloyalty identifier; a consumer's use of (which includes a reference to)a marketing offer (e.g., a coupon, a bonus offering, reward points,etc.); whether a purchase transaction takes place online or offline;and/or the like. In one embodiment, purchase data may also include anydata relating to a product or service warranty that may apply to apurchased item. Such “warranty data” may include any of the following:the duration of the manufacturer's warranty, the scope of the warranty(e.g., limitations that may apply), any consumer purchased extensions ofthe manufacturer's warranty, and the like.

“Retailer ID”, as used herein, comprises any symbol, indicia, code,number, or other identifier that may be associated with a retailer ofany type of goods and/or services offered to a consumer, supplementarymember, or other end-user. A retailer ID may also include or beassociated with a “store ID”, which designates the location of aparticular store.

A “manufacturer ID” comprises any symbol, indicia, code, number, orother identifier that may be associated with a manufacturer of any typeof goods and/or services ultimately offered to a consumer, supplementarymember, or other end-user.

An “award” or “reward” may comprise any quantity of products, services,coupons, gift certificates, rebates, reward points, bonus points,credits or debits to a financial instrument, any combination of these,and/or the like.

A “purchaser profile”, as used herein, shall refer to and/or include anydata used to characterize a consumer and/or the behavior of a consumerand may be derived from other data, such as, for example, consumerenrollment data and purchase data. A “purchaser profile” may include,and/or convey information regarding, any or all of the following:consumer enrollment data; the time, date, and/or day of the week of aparticular purchase; the item(s) purchased; the price of the item(s)purchased; the purchase frequency for particular items; thevolume/quantity of purchases, either in terms of total dollars spent oritem quantities; spend levels over the course of a given time period;spend levels for a given category of products; responses to marketingoffers; whether purchases were made online or offline; the transactionsize (price); a purchaser's brand preferences; a retailer itemidentifier; a manufacturer item identifier; the existence and terms of aproduct warranty associated with an item purchased; the status (e.g.,current or almost expired) of a product warranty associated with apurchased item; and/or the like. It will be appreciated that whileparticular types of data may be described herein as either “purchasedata” or “enrollment data”, these categories of data need not beexclusive of one another and may overlap. For example, in alternateembodiments of the invention, data types that may be described herein as“purchase data” may be included as “enrollment data”, and data typesthat may be described herein as “enrollment data” may be included as“purchase data”. Moreover, in further embodiments, data types that aredescribed herein as being a part of one of these data categories may,instead, be a part of the other data category.

“Data analysis”, as used herein, shall be understood to comprisequantitative and qualitative research, statistical modeling, regressionanalyses, market segmentation analyses, econometrics, and/or the like.Such analyses may be used to characterize a consumer, predict aconsumer's behavior, and/or correlate any of the following: a consumerprofile, a part of a consumer profile, a supplementary member profile, apart of a supplementary member profile, consumer enrollment data,purchase data, retailer data, manufacturer data, product or servicedata, and/or the like.

The system of the present invention associates or maps manufacturer UPCdata and retailer SKU data on a network level to reward consumers and/orto analyze the data for a variety of business purposes, such as marketsegmentation analyses and/or analyses relating to consumer spendingbehaviors or patterns for example. Rather than simply capturingtransactions at a Record of Charge (ROC) level, that is, recordingconsumer purchases in a general fashion by designating purchasecategories (such as “clothing”, “electronics”, or “hardware” forexample), the system identifies the particular item purchased (such as“jeans”, “stereo”, or “hammer” for example) as well as its correspondingmanufacturer. By matching or associating the retailer SKU and themanufacturer's UPC, the system permits the standardization of goodsand/or services codes at the network level. This standardization notonly permits a record of both the specific item purchased and itsmanufacturer, regardless of the particular retailer involved in thetransaction, but it permits the mapping of multiple consumers, multiplegoods and/or services, multiple retailers, and/or multiple manufacturersto advantageously cross-market goods and services to consumers.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the association of UPCand SKU data by the system facilitates implementation of an incentive orloyalty program by providing a universal rewards currency which may be“spent” by participants who have earned rewards and accepted by theother participants in the multi-tiered network created by the system.The network may comprise any number of participants, including consumers(and any members of an aggregate consumer account), retailers (and anyof their employees), manufacturers, third-party providers, and the like.Each of these categories of participants may be considered a tier in thenetwork, and each participant within the various tiers may design andimplement an independent rewards scheme within the context of theuniversal environment provided by the system. For example, Manufacturer1 may produce and assign a UPC to Item X. Item X may subsequently beoffered for sale by both Retailer 1 and Retailer 2. Retailer 1 andRetailer 2 may then each assign an independent SKU number to Item X tofacilitate their own tracking, inventory, and pricing schemes. Aconsumer may then purchase Item X from both Retailer 1 and Retailer 2.

Since the system is capable of processing, associating, and quantifyinga variety of data, including consumer data, employee data, retailerdata, manufacturer data, SKU number data corresponding to Item X, andUPC data assigned by Manufacturer 1, for example, this data can then beused by the manufacturer, the retailer, the system administrator, and/ora third-party provider to provide rewards to consumers, employees,retailers, etc. For example, a manufacturer may provide frequency-basedincentives, such as every 10^(th) purchase of a particular item will bediscounted by 50% for example, independent of and/or in addition to anyincentives offered by the specific retailer involved in the transaction.Additionally, the manufacturer may provide sales incentives to theemployees of retailers independent of and/or in addition to any employeeincentive programs that the retailers may choose to implement.

Since rewards, which may be in the form of reward points, may be earnedacross the various tiers in the network, rewards may also be used orspent across the various tiers in the network. Thus, any reward pointsthat an employee, for example, may earn by promoting a particularmanufacturer's line of products, may be “spent” by that employee ongoods or services provided by any participant in the network, not merelyat the retailer who employs that employee. Likewise, any reward pointsearned by a consumer may be spent on goods or services offered by anyparticipant in the network.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the association ofUPC and SKU data by the system facilitates data analysis on a networklevel based upon several factors, including any of the following:consumer ID, consumer profile, supplementary member ID, supplementarymember profile, retailer ID, SKU number, UPC, manufacturer ID, and/orthe like. The system may compile any of the above data across multipleparticipants for the purpose of data analysis, such as analyses whichmay be employed in strategic planning and marketing for example. Thesystem of the invention may be used to compile, analyze, and report datain a manner which would inform any or all network participants that, forexample, a specific consumer (1) has made multiple purchases ofparticular manufacturers' products; (2) has spent Q dollars over acertain time period; (3) at specific multiple retailers; and (4) of thepurchases made, R dollars went towards the purchase of Product 1, Sdollars went towards the purchase of Product 2, and T dollars wenttowards the purchase of Service 1. Moreover, the system may be used tocompile, analyze, and report data that enable a retailer, amanufacturer, and/or a third-party provider to create a variety oftargeted marketing promotions, such as, for example, (1) marketingProduct 1 offered by Manufacturer 1 to consumers who purchase Product 2offered by Manufacturer 2; (2) marketing Product 1 offered byManufacturer 1 and sold by Retailer X to consumers who purchase Product2 offered by Manufacturer 2 at Retailer Y; and/or (3) marketing Product1 offered by Manufacturer 1 and sold by Retailer X to consumers whopurchase Product 2 offered by Manufacturer 2 at Retailer Y five times ayear. It will be appreciated that these are but a few of the manypossible applications for data gathered and generated by the system ofthe present invention.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the systemadministrator may allocate reward points to participants in the system.In one embodiment, participating retailers and/or manufacturers maypurchase points from the system administrator and the points are thenallocated to an account associated with the retailer and/ormanufacturer. In an alternate embodiment, the system administrator maygive or donate points to participating retailers and/or manufacturers.The system administrator maintains an account with each of theparticipating retailers and manufacturers and tracks available pointsbalances and/or balances owing on a rolling basis. The points purchasedby the retailers and/or manufacturers may then be earned by and issuedto consumers in a manner that is predetermined by the retailer and/ormanufacturer involved in the transaction with the consumer. For example,Retailer 1 may purchase 10,000 points from the system administrator andthen offer consumers 1 point for every $10 dollars spent in Retailer 1'sstore or, perhaps, some number of points for every fifth transaction inthe store. Moreover, Manufacturer 1, who produces the product offered byRetailer 1, may also purchase points from the system administrator.Thus, when a consumer purchases Manufacturer 1's product at Retailer 1,Manufacturer 1 may issue some number of points to the consumer. Theissuance of points, either by retailers or manufacturers, may be basedupon any selected criteria, including a points-for-dollars ratio, adefined quantity of points per item or per transaction, some combinationof these, and/or the like.

The system administrator maintains an account for each participatingconsumer and apprises the consumer of the points totals and accountactivity. The consumer may review the total number of points in theaccount either online or off-line, such as through a periodic statementsent by the system administrator or through the use of a communicationsnetwork, such as the Internet, for example. Points in the consumer'saccount are accumulated across the multiple retailers and/ormanufacturers participating in the system. Thus, points earned by aconsumer based upon transactions with different retailers and/ormanufacturers are combined, resulting in a rapid accrual of points. Thesystem administrator offers a catalog of products and services, whichmay be either online or off-line, from which consumers may selectrewards in exchange for accrued points. In this manner, consumersadvantageously earn points based upon their everyday purchases ofproducts and services, these points are accrued across retailers and/ormanufacturers, and points redemption takes place through a single,universal catalog of rewards.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the systemadministrator may maintain an aggregate consumer account for aparticipating consumer (primary member). The aggregate consumer accountis established, for example, by the primary member, who enrolls orpermits enrollment of any number of supplementary members who areidentified by the primary member. In one embodiment, a consumer mayestablish an aggregate consumer account to encompass members of theprimary member's household, business, charitable organization, and thelike. In another embodiment, supplementary members are selected by theprimary member for association with the primary member's aggregateconsumer account on any basis deemed suitable by the primary member. Forexample, a primary member may associate friends, co-workers, familymembers, or any other group of individuals or entities. In oneembodiment, each supplementary member is associated with a supplementarymember ID number, which uniquely identifies the supplementary member(e.g., as Supplementary Member 1, Supplementary Member 2, etc.) andwhich affiliates the supplementary member with the primary member, theprimary member's consumer ID, and/or the primary member's aggregateconsumer account.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, supplementary members mayboth earn reward points and redeem reward points based upon theirparticipation in the system of the invention. In one embodiment, thesupplementary member ID is used to identify reward points earningtransactions and reward points redemption transactions engaged in by aparticular supplementary member, as distinguished from transactionsengaged in by the primary member or other supplementary members of theaggregate consumer account. In this manner, the aggregate consumeraccount may track aggregate points totals and account activity for allmembers (primary and supplementary) of the aggregate consumer account aswell as track particular point totals and account activity for eachmember (primary and supplementary) of the aggregate consumer account. Inone embodiment, a primary member may redeem all or any of the rewardpoints accumulated in the aggregate consumer account. In anotherembodiment, a primary member may designate a particular supplementarymember(s) as eligible to redeem any or all of the reward points in theaggregate consumer account. In a further embodiment, each supplementarymember may redeem those reward points which have been earned by theparticular supplementary member. In still another embodiment, asupplementary member may only redeem a quantity of reward points whichthe primary member has authorized for redemption by that particularsupplementary member. In yet another embodiment, a first supplementarymember may designate a second supplementary member as eligible to redeemany or all of the reward points earned by the first supplementarymember.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a consumer may review thetotal number of points in an account either online or off-line, such asthrough a periodic statement sent by the system administrator or throughthe use of a communications network, such as the Internet, for example.Points in the consumer's account are accumulated across the multipleretailers and/or manufacturers participating in the system. Thus, pointsearned by a consumer based upon transactions with different retailersand/or manufacturers are combined, resulting in a rapid accrual ofpoints. The system administrator offers a catalog of products andservices, which may be either online or off-line, from which consumersmay select rewards in exchange for accrued points. In this manner,consumers advantageously earn points based upon their everyday purchasesof products and services, and these points are accrued across retailersand/or manufacturers.

In one embodiment, a consumer may redeem earned points through a single,universal catalog of rewards, which may include products and servicesoffered by any number of merchants, which merchants may or may not beparticipants in the system. The universal catalog may be offered to theconsumer in both online and offline formats. In another embodiment, aconsumer may redeem earned points through a customized online catalog,which presents to the consumer a sub-set of rewards from the universalcatalog that are particularly relevant to the consumer. The relevance ofparticular rewards to the consumer may be defined based upon anysuitable criteria, such as the consumer's self-characterization (such asby indicating and inputting particular demographics information througha suitable user interface, as is well-known and practiced in the art) orthe consumer's reward points total, for example. The customized onlinecatalog may also include products and services offered by any number ofmerchants.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a primary member maypermit a supplementary member to access and review, through the use of asuitable communications network (such as the Internet for example), thetotal number of points in an aggregate consumer account. Alternatively,a primary member may permit a supplementary member to access and reviewonly the number of points earned by that particular supplementarymember. As with primary members, points earned by supplementary membersare accumulated across the multiple retailers and/or manufacturersparticipating in the system. Thus, points earned by a supplementarymember based upon transactions with different retailers and/ormanufacturers are combined, resulting in a rapid accrual of points.

In one embodiment, supplementary members may redeem accumulated rewardpoints through the above-described universal catalog as well as thecustomized online catalog. Alternatively, supplementary members mayredeem reward points at one or more sub-catalogs that may target aparticular type of supplementary member. The type of supplementarymember targeted by a sub-catalog may be defined by any suitablecriteria, such as the capacity for lesser or greater point accumulation,consumer market segment, demographics information, products related toor similar to previously purchased products, profile information, andthe like. Examples of the types of supplementary members may includeyounger household members, such as children or teenagers for example;particular classes or categories of employees, such as staff members orsenior executives; members of a charitable organization, such asvolunteers or officers of the Board of Directors; and the like. In oneembodiment, a sub-catalog may offer items having a lower monetary value(as reflected in the redemption points value of the offered items) thanitems offered in the universal catalog. In another embodiment, eachsupplementary member's accumulated reward points total is matched,according to a volume of total points, with a corresponding sub-catalog,and a supplementary member who seeks to redeem accumulated reward pointsis automatically directed to that particular sub-catalog in response toa request for redemption. In one embodiment, any reward pointsredemption transactions by a supplementary member results in acorresponding reduction in the aggregate accumulated reward points totalof the aggregate consumer account as well as a reduction of theparticular supplementary member's reward points total.

In accordance with the present invention, FIG. 1 is a diagramillustrating an exemplary embodiment of an incentive or loyalty system100. System 100 comprises a central rewards mechanism 102; a pluralityof retailer/merchant systems 104; and at least one manufacturer 106. Oneskilled in the art will appreciate that system 100 may comprise anynumber of retailer systems 104 and any number of manufacturers 106.

The central rewards mechanism 102 manages the incentive or loyaltyprogram of the system 100. In an exemplary embodiment, central rewardsmechanism 102 receives, processes, and stores manufacturer data, such asinformation regarding products and/or services and UPC data, transmittedby manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in the system 100. Manufacturers106 may transmit data to central rewards mechanism 102 in any form andby any means known in the art, including any of the communications meansdescribed above. The manufacturer data is stored by the central rewardsmechanism 102 in database 103. Database 103 may be any type of database,such as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.Common database products that may be used to implement database 103include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), any of the database productsavailable from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), MicrosoftAccess by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other databaseproduct. Database 103 may be organized in any suitable manner, includingas data tables or lookup tables.

The central rewards mechanism 102 may receive and process consumer ID orsupplementary member ID information and purchase data from any of theretailer systems 104. The central rewards mechanism 102 may alsoassociate a particular consumer ID or supplementary member ID with thepurchase data and a corresponding manufacturer item identifier. In oneembodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102 performs an analysisinvolving any of the following: a consumer ID, a supplementary memberID, purchase data, a points ratio, a consumer profile, a supplementarymember profile, a retailer ID, and a manufacturer ID. The analysis maybe dependent upon an association of the consumer ID or supplementarymember ID, the purchase data, and the manufacturer item identifier. Theanalysis may further comprise, for example, a calculation of rewardpoints and/or other analyses for purposes of market segmentation,determining consumer spending behavior, correlating spending behaviorand consumer demographics, and/or the like, as described in greaterdetail above.

In one exemplary embodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102 storesand informs a consumer of the reward points that have been earned by aparticular transaction as well as accumulated over time. The number ofreward points calculated and awarded by the central rewards mechanism102 for a particular purchase may depend upon a predetermined rewardsratio. The rewards ratio may be determined by the retailer, the systemadministrator, the manufacturer of the purchased item, and/or any othersuitable third-party. For example, if a participating consumer buys aproduct from a retailer for $100 and if the retailer rewards ratio isone reward point for each dollar of the purchase price (i.e.,one-for-one), once the consumer's consumer ID or supplementary member IDis identified by the system, the consumer is credited with a suitablenumber of reward points from the retailer, which, in this case, would be100 points. However, if the manufacturer also chooses to issue rewardpoints for the item purchased, the manufacturer may select a pointsratio that is different from the retailer's selected ratio. In theillustrated example, if the manufacturer's selected points ratio istwo-for-one, then the consumer will be awarded an additional 200 pointsfrom the manufacturer for this single $100 purchase. In this manner, thesystem of the invention may provide “earn accelerators” through whichconsumers may accumulate reward points at a comparatively rapid rate. Inother words, a single purchase may generate reward points for a consumerfrom any or all of a retailer, a manufacturer, and/or a third-partyprovider, and those reward points may be used as rewards currency by theconsumer throughout the network established by the system of theinvention.

In an exemplary embodiment, retailer system 104 comprises a retailerterminal 108 and a retailer processor 110 in communication with database111. Retailer terminal 108 comprises any input device capable ofidentifying a consumer ID or a supplementary member ID. Exemplarydevices for identifying a consumer ID or supplementary member ID mayinclude: a conventional card reader which recognizes a magnetic stripeor bar code associated with a consumer ID or supplementary member ID; abiometric device; a smart card reader which recognizes informationstored on a microchip integrated with a consumer ID or supplementarymember ID; any device capable of receiving or uploading consumer ID orsupplementary member ID data transmitted electronically, magnetically,optically; and/or the like. In one embodiment, retailer terminal 108 andretailer processor 110 are co-located at a retail store. In anotherembodiment, retail terminal 108 and retailer processor 110 are remotefrom each other.

In one aspect of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. 2, the retailersystem 104 may facilitate instant enrollment in the system of theinvention by a consumer at the point of sale. In an exemplaryembodiment, retailer terminal 108 comprises an input device, such as anyof the devices noted above for example, that is capable of identifying aretailer loyalty identifier, which is described in detail above. In thisembodiment, when a consumer uses their retailer loyalty identifier at aretailer point-of-sale checkout (which may be either at a brick andmortar establishment or an online retailer Web site) (step 202), theconsumer is asked whether they wish to enroll in the system of theinvention (step 204). In an exemplary embodiment, the retailer terminal108 and/or the input device which interacts with the retailer loyaltyidentifier presents an enrollment query (e.g., “Would you like to enrollin a networked loyalty program?”) and prompts the consumer (or aretailer employee who may be handling the checkout transaction) toindicate a response by, for example, selecting either “Yes or No” inresponse to the enrollment query. In one embodiment, the consumer usesthe retailer loyalty identifier to interact with the input device whilethe consumer's purchases are being checked-out by the retailer so thatpull-through rates are minimally impacted. For example, the consumer mayswipe or scan the retailer loyalty identifier while the retailer isperforming the checkout process, and therefore the consumer may respondto the enrollment query substantially without the aid of the retaileremployee who is performing the checkout.

If the consumer does not wish to participate in the loyalty program ofthe invention, the consumer selects “No” in response to the enrollmentquery, the negative response is communicated to the retailer system 104,the retailer regional processor 114, and/or the central rewardsmechanism 102 (step 206), and the checkout process proceeds as usual(step 208).

Alternatively, if the consumer wishes to participate in the loyaltyprogram of the invention, the consumer selects “Yes” in response to theenrollment query, and the affirmative response is communicated to theretailer system 104, the retailer regional processor 114, and/or thecentral rewards mechanism 102 (step 210). In this embodiment, thecheckout also proceeds as usual (step 212). However, retailer enrollmentdata pertaining to the consumer is communicated from the retailer system104 (or the retailer regional processor 114, as described below withreference to FIG. 4) to the central rewards mechanism 102 (step 214).For example, retailer enrollment data, such as, for example, theconsumer's name, address, etc., which the retailer has previouslygathered from the consumer and has processed and stored for the purposeof enabling the consumer to participate in the retailer's independentloyalty program, is sent from the retailer system 104 (or the retailerregional processor 114) to the central rewards mechanism 102.

Once the central rewards mechanism 102 receives the enrollment data, thecentral rewards mechanism 102 then automatically processes thatenrollment data as an enrollment application for the consumer toparticipate in the networked loyalty program of the invention (step216). The enrollment data may be communicated from the retailer system104 (or the retailer regional processor 114) to the central rewardsmechanism 102 by any known routine or format, such as, for example batchprocessing or in real time. The central rewards mechanism then opens aconsumer account, issues a consumer ID, and sends this and otherrelevant information about the loyalty program (e.g., generalinformation about the loyalty program and the manner in which itoperates, information regarding the possibility of opening an aggregateaccount and obtaining supplementary member IDs, terms and conditions ofparticipation in the loyalty program, etc.) to the consumer (step 218).At the point-of-sale, however, a temporary consumer account is openedand/or a temporary consumer ID is issued to allow the consumer toparticipate in the loyalty program while the consumer is waiting toreceive the consumer ID, account information (including (step 220). Thistemporary consumer account is eventually reconciled with the consumeraccount once it has been opened to credit the consumer with any rewardspoints or other benefits of participation in the loyalty program thatmay have accrued while the consumer was awaiting activation of theconsumer account and receipt of the consumer ID.

This “instant”, one-step enrollment functionality simplifies enrollmentin the system of the invention and saves consumers time by utilizingdata that the retailer already has in its possession, thereby reducingthe need for a consumer's active participation in a separate enrollmentprocess. Such a simplified enrollment process may lead to higherenrollment completion and participant acquisition rates as well as lowerparticipant acquisition costs. Moreover, retailers may enjoy thebenefits of consumer enrollment in the system of the invention withouteither requiring the dedication of substantial amounts of retailer spacefor enrollment purposes or decreasing checkout pull-through rates.

In an exemplary embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 3, retailer terminal108 comprises a retailer POS terminal 112, such as a cash register forexample. When a consumer ID or supplementary member ID is used at thetime an item is purchased, purchase data, including a SKU number, isinput, sensed, or otherwise recognized by terminal 108, and then thepurchase data is processed and stored by retailer processor 110.Retailer processor 110 comprises or is in communication with a suitabledatabase 111 or other storage device for maintaining and storingpurchase data and any other suitable retailer information. Database 111may be any type of database, such as any of the database productsdescribed above for example. Database 111 may be organized in anysuitable manner, including as data tables or lookup tables. Purchasedata that is stored in database 111 is available to the retailer's localback office system (not shown) for inventory, accounting, tax, dataanalysis, and other purposes. The captured purchase data may include theitem purchased, the item's unit price, the number of items purchased,the date, the store location, an employee ID, and any other informationrelated to the purchase. In an exemplary embodiment, retailer processor110 may also receive, process, and store manufacturer data, such asinformation regarding products and/or services and UPC data, frommanufacturers 106 who have enrolled in the system 100. The manufacturerdata may be stored in any suitable form, including data tables or lookuptables.

In accordance with the exemplary embodiments illustrated in FIG. 4,purchase data may also be transmitted to, and then stored and processedby, a retailer regional processor 114 (or, alternatively, a retailernational processor (not shown)) in communication with database 115 forthe purpose of further back office and cumulative data analysis.Database 115 may be any type of database, such as any of the databaseproducts described in greater detail above for example. Database 115 maybe organized in any suitable manner, including as data tables or lookuptables. In an exemplary embodiment, retailer processor 110 optionallymay be integrated with retailer regional processor 114 (illustrated bythe phantom lines encompassing Retailer Processor 1 and retailerregional processor 114 within the system of Retailer/Merchant #2),thereby forming a single device. In another embodiment, retailerprocessor 110 and retailer regional processor 114 are separate deviceswhich may be either co-located with each other or remotely located fromone another. For example, in one embodiment, retailer processor 110 andregional processor 114 are co-located at a particular retail store. Inanother embodiment, retailer processor 110 is located at a particularretail store and retailer regional processor 114 is remotely located ata regional office.

Regardless of the location of retailer regional processor 114, retailerregional processor 114 receives and processes similar information fromeach of the retailer processors 110 associated with each of the retailstores owned by the same retailer. Whether the system 100 comprises aretailer regional processor 114 or a retailer national processor may bea function of the number of stores maintained by a particular retailer.That is, a larger retailer who has numerous stores throughout thecountry, for example, may choose to have a plurality of regionalprocessors, while a smaller retailer with a few stores scattered acrossthe country may be better served by a single, national processor. Inexemplary embodiments, the retailer regional processors 114 and/ornational processors communicate with a suitable database 115 or otherstorage device which is configured to store and maintain purchase dataand any other suitable retailer information. In another exemplaryembodiment, retailer regional processor 114 may receive, process, andstore manufacturer data, such as information regarding products and/orservices and UPC data, from manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in thesystem 100. The manufacturer data may be stored in any suitable form,including data tables or lookup tables.

With momentary reference to FIG. 3, retailer terminal 108 may comprise arewards terminal 116 through which a consumer may be updated with regardto various aspects of the system. For example, rewards terminal 116 mayinform a consumer of the number of reward points that they haveaccumulated from all system participants and the types of awards thatmay be obtained using those reward points. Moreover, rewards terminal116 may suggest to the consumer various awards for which the consumer iseligible based upon the reward points generated by the consumer'snetwork-wide purchases. In this context, network-wide purchases includeany purchases of items corresponding to retailers and/or manufacturersparticipating in the system 100.

In an exemplary embodiment, rewards terminal 116 operates in real-time.In this context, “real-time” means that reward points are immediately,or nearly immediately, updated at the time purchases are made and aretherefore immediately redeemable by the consumer at a point of sale.Thus, for example, a consumer may be informed by rewards terminal 116 atthe point of sale that the item being purchased by the consumer may bepurchased using the consumer's accumulated reward points, includingpoints accumulated on a network level. Points accumulated on a networklevel enable consumers to accumulate points more rapidly than would bepossible if only a single retailer or group of retailers were issuingthe points. In one embodiment, rewards terminal 116 may update aconsumer's reward points in real-time and, in response to the consumer'sparticular points total, issue a coupon, a gift certificate, and/oradditional bonus points to the consumer.

In another exemplary embodiment, the system may operate in batch mode,wherein points totals are calculated, stored, and periodically updatedfor access by the retailer terminal 108, including POS terminal 112and/or rewards terminal 116. Thus, in this embodiment, the consumer maybe notified of available points sometime after a purchase, or asuggestive sale may take place after a purchase. The total point countor suggestive sale may take into account points generated andaccumulated as the result of network-wide purchases.

In various alternate embodiments of the invention, retailer terminal 108may include a rewards terminal 116 but not a POS terminal 112; a POSterminal 112 but not a rewards terminal 116; or a POS terminal 112 incommunication with a rewards terminal 116. In alternate embodiments,where terminal 108 includes a POS terminal 112 and a rewards terminal116, the two terminals 112 and 116 may be variously implemented asseparate terminals, integrated terminals, or software within a device.In another embodiment, where terminal 108 comprises a rewards terminal116 but not a POS terminal 112, terminal 108 may be a kiosk terminallocated within a retail store or some other remote terminal which iscapable of recognizing a consumer ID or supplementary member ID andcommunicating with the system 100. A consumer may use independentrewards terminal 116 to do, for example, any of the following: viewaccumulated reward points totals; view potential awards which theconsumer may obtain in exchange for various numbers of points; select anaward; redeem reward points for a selected award; request and/or receivea reward points advisory statement; and/or view a directory ofparticipating retailers, manufacturers, and third-party providers.

In another exemplary embodiment, system 100 further comprises a consumerterminal 118. Consumer terminal 118 is any remote terminal through whicha consumer may access other aspects of the system 100. Consumer terminal118 may comprise any of the input devices, computing units, or computingsystems described above. Further, consumer terminal 118 communicateswith the system 100 through any of the communications networks describedabove. In one embodiment, consumer terminal 118 permits a consumer toengage multiple facets of the system 100 in an interactive onlinecommunications environment. The interactive online environment madeavailable through consumer terminal 118 is an extension of thenetwork-level incentive award program and is implemented in conjunctionwith other aspects of the system 100. In this context, a consumer mayuse consumer terminal 118 for a variety of purposes. In one embodiment,consumer terminal 118 may be used to communicate with and receiveinformation from the central rewards mechanism 102. For example, aconsumer may use consumer terminal 118 to do any of the following:enroll in the system; enroll supplementary members in the system;identify particular individuals who are authorized to enroll assupplementary members in association with a primary member's aggregateconsumer account; receive statements or reports regarding accumulatedreward points totals; receive statements or reports regarding asupplementary member's accumulated reward points totals; receive bonusdetails; view potential awards which the consumer may obtain in exchangefor various numbers of points; select an award; receive redemptioninformation; view points adjustments; redeem reward points for aselected award; request and/or receive a reward points advisorystatement; receive information regarding where and how points wereearned and/or how points were redeemed; receive information regardingexpiration dates for points earned; receive information relating to anyapplicable fees; receive information regarding marketing promotions;and/or view a directory of participating retailers, manufacturers,and/or third-party providers.

In one embodiment, a consumer may use consumer terminal 118 to customizethe online catalog for selective presentation to the consumer ofparticularly relevant rewards, rather than the entire rewards catalog.For example, a consumer may indicate an indicia of relevance (such asany aspect of the consumer's demographics or profile, products relatedto or similar to previously purchased products, the consumer's totalaccumulated reward points, and the like), and the system then presentsto the consumer only those catalog items that are relevant to theconsumer. The consumer may select the indicia of relevance by any meansknown and practiced in the art, such as by using a pointer in connectionwith a drop-down menu, a plurality of icons, or a plurality of “buttons”for example. This embodiment enables simplified navigation of therewards catalog by consumers, thereby also enabling more expedientreward points redemption.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, customized bonusofferings may be communicated to the consumer through an onlinecustomized rewards catalog (as described above), a customer servicerepresentative, email, or offline communications. In one embodiment, theconsumer may use the consumer terminal 118 to receive bonus offeringsthat are customized according to any of the following consumerinformation: demographics information, purchasing behavior, rewardpoints earning behavior, and reward points redemption behavior.

In another embodiment, consumer terminal 118 may be used to interactwith and/or make purchases and generate reward points from participatingonline retailers, as illustrated by the various phantom lines in FIG. 1.The online retailer may then communicate with the central rewardsmechanism 102 to transmit and process a consumer ID or supplementarymember ID, purchase data, etc., as described above with reference toretailer 104 of FIG. 1. Information communicated between the onlineconsumer, the online retailer, and the online central rewards mechanismmay include, for example, product or service information, prices,availability of the product or service, shipping information, rewardpoints information, available awards, information regarding pointsratios and points redemption, and/or the like. In one embodiment,consumer terminal 118 operates in real-time, as described above withrespect to rewards terminal 116. In another embodiment, the consumerterminal 118 may operate in batch mode, as described above. In still afurther embodiment, consumer terminal 118 operates in a manner whichincludes aspects of both real-time functionality and batch modefunctionality.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention, the system 100 maycomprise a rewards server 120 in communication with a database 121, asillustrated in FIG. 3. Database 121 may be any type of database, such asany of the database products described above for example. Database 121may be organized in any suitable manner, including as data tables orlookup tables. In an exemplary embodiment, rewards server 120 may be anyhardware and/or software that is configured to communicate with thecentral rewards mechanism 102 and either the retailer processor 110 orthe retailer regional processor 114. In alternate exemplary embodiments,rewards server 120 may be integrated with retailer system 104; rewardsserver 120 may be integrated with central rewards mechanism 102; orrewards server 120 may be separate from both retailer system 104 andcentral rewards mechanism 102. In a further embodiment, the rewardsserver 120 may communicate with both a retailer national processor (notshown) and the central rewards mechanism 102.

In an exemplary embodiment, rewards server 120 receives, processes, andstores both manufacturer data and retailer data. Manufacturer data mayinclude descriptions of products and/or services and UPC datatransmitted from manufacturers 106 who have enrolled in the system 100.The manufacturer data may be stored in any suitable form, including datatables or lookup tables. Retailer data may include descriptions ofproducts and/or services and SKU data transmitted from retailers 104 whohave enrolled in the system 100. The retailer data may be stored in anysuitable form, including data tables or lookup tables.

In an exemplary embodiment, the rewards server 120 performs a pluralityof functions that might otherwise be performed by the central rewardsmechanism 102. For example, since rewards calculations requiresignificant processing and memory resources, performance of calculationsprocessing by the rewards server 120 at the regional level lessens theprocessing load on the central rewards mechanism 102, thereby increasingthe efficiency of the central rewards mechanism 102. In an exemplaryembodiment, each retailer's region, which comprises a plurality of thatretailer's stores or outlets, accesses a rewards server 120 which actsas an intermediary between the retailer regional processor 114 and thecentral rewards mechanism 102. This configuration relieves theprocessing, power, memory, and other requirements of the central rewardsmechanism 102. Moreover, each retailer is but one of many retailers thatmay participate in the network level rewards structure. Accordingly, aplurality of rewards servers 120 may be in communication with thecentral rewards mechanism 102 as well as each of the participatingretailer regional processors 114, further alleviating the processingburden and freeing up the resources of the central rewards mechanism102.

Implementations which include at least one independent rewards server120 are also advantageous because cost-effective communications linksmay be used to facilitate communications with the central rewardsmechanism 102. Performance by the rewards server 120 of many of the“intelligence functions” of the system 100 permits transmission of onlyparticular forms of purchaser information to the central rewardsmechanism 102. In an exemplary embodiment, data sent from the rewardsserver 120 to the central rewards mechanism 102 may include the consumerID or supplementary member ID and the total number of reward pointsearned by a consumer in a particular transaction. In another exemplaryembodiment, data transmitted by the rewards server 120 to the centralrewards mechanism 102 may also include any pre-selected aspect of theconsumer profile or supplementary member profile, any pre-selectedaspect of the purchase data, and/or any other pre-selected dataassociated with a consumer, a retailer, a manufacturer, and/or athird-party provider. Pre-selection of the types of data transmitted bythe rewards server 120 to the central rewards mechanism 102 may beconducted by the system administrator, a retailer, a manufacturer,and/or a third-party provider. Thus, data which may be useful forpurposes of data analysis but unrelated to the rewards feature, such asthe characteristics of the particular item purchased for example, maynot need to be transmitted to the central rewards mechanism 102.

Exemplary functions performed by the rewards server 120 may include theassociation of UPC and SKU data; manipulation of the rewards criteriaapplicable in particular cases, which may further depend upon theretailer, manufacturer, and/or third-party provider involved in aspecific transaction with a consumer; calculation of rewards benefitsearned by the consumer; filtration functions for determining which datais transmitted from the rewards server 120 to the central rewardsmechanism 102; and/or various types of data analyses, as describedabove. In an exemplary embodiment, the retailer system 104 houses,maintains, and updates the hardware and/or software of the rewardsserver 120. In another embodiment, rewards server 120 may be housed,maintained, and updated by the system administrator.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, thesystem 100 permits an open payment system. Since the invention generallyprovides that consumer participation in the system is based upon aconsumer ID or supplementary member ID, a purchaser may use any ofmultiple payment vehicles (such as cash, check, charge card, creditcard, debit card, MasterCard®, Visa®, and/or the American Express® Cardfor example) to make purchases at the various retailers and stillparticipate in the system. Thus, in one embodiment, the consumer ID orsupplementary member ID is independent of any particular paymentvehicle, such as a credit card for example.

However, alternate embodiments of the invention may be implemented whichassociate a consumer ID or supplementary member ID with a particularpayment vehicle, such as a consumer's credit card account, charge cardaccount, debit card account, and/or bank account for example. In thisembodiment, the retailer conducting the transaction need onlyparticipate in the system to the extent that the retailer provides itsSKU data to the system 100, such as to the rewards server 120. In otherwords, when a consumer ID or supplementary member ID is associated withan instrument (e.g., a credit card) from a third-party provider, theretailer need not provide a rewards terminal or other terminal capableof processing the consumer ID or supplementary member ID, since thethird-party provider may process the consumer ID or supplementary memberID as part of the payment transaction. Thus, in this embodiment, rewardsbenefits may be earned by the consumer on a network-wide level withoutthe retailer's direct participation in the rewards feature(notwithstanding the retailer's participation in transmitting SKU datato the system). Moreover, it will be appreciated that a single consumerID or supplementary member ID may be associated with multiplethird-party payment vehicles, thereby allowing a consumer to generatereward points regardless of the particular payment vehicle selected fora particular purchase.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary central rewards mechanism 502includes a central processor 504 in communication with other elements ofthe rewards mechanism 502 through a system interface or bus 506. Asuitable display device/input device 508, such as a keyboard or pointingdevice in combination with a monitor, may be provided for receiving datafrom and outputting data to a user of the system. A memory 510associated with the rewards mechanism 502 includes various softwaremodules, such as an enrollment module 512 and an authentication module514 for example. The memory 510 preferably further includes an operatingsystem 516 which enables execution by processor 504 of the varioussoftware applications residing at enrollment module 512 andauthentication module 514. Operating system 516 may be any suitableoperating system, as described above. Preferably, a network interface518 is provided for suitably interfacing with other elements of theincentive awards system, such as the elements described above withreference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4.

Lastly, a storage device 520, such as a hard disk drive for example,preferably contains files or records which are accessed by the varioussoftware modules, such as enrollment module 512 and authenticationmodule 514. In particular, consumer data 522 comprises informationreceived from a consumer upon registration with the rewards mechanism502, including any information corresponding to supplementary membersthat may be affiliated with a primary member's aggregate consumeraccount. Consumer rewards 524 comprises data corresponding to eachconsumer's rewards account, including data corresponding to anyaggregate consumer account and any supplementary members that may beaffiliated with a primary member and/or an aggregate consumer account.Consumer rewards 524 may include cumulative reward points totals as wellas historical totals and rewards account activity over time. In oneembodiment, consumer rewards 524 includes cumulative reward pointstotals, historical totals, and rewards account activity forsupplementary members affiliated with an aggregate consumer account.Retailer records 526 comprises information received from the variousparticipating retailers. Manufacturer records 528 comprises informationreceived from the various participating manufacturers. One skilled inthe art will appreciate that the storage device 520 and, therefore,consumer data 522, consumer rewards 524, retailer records 526, andmanufacturer records 528 may be co-located with the rewards mechanism502 or may be remotely located with respect to the rewards mechanism502. If the storage device 520 is remotely located with respect to therewards mechanism 502, communication between storage device 520 andrewards mechanism 502 may be accomplished by any suitable communicationlink but is preferably accomplished through a private intranet orextranet.

Enrollment module 512 receives information from consumers, retailers,and/or manufacturers who wish to participate in the system. Enrollmentmodule 512 accesses and stores information in storage device 520. In oneembodiment, enrollment module 512 receives, stores, and accesses datacorresponding to primary members and their affiliated supplementarymembers. In another embodiment, enrollment module 512 processesenrollment data received from a retailer system (e.g., retailer system104, retailer regional processor 114, or a national retailer processor)to facilitate instant enrollment of a consumer at a point of sale, asdescribed above with reference to FIG. 2. Processing of enrollment databy enrollment module 512 may include, for example, opening a consumeraccount, issuing a consumer ID, and/or reconciling data in a temporaryconsumer account with a newly opened consumer account.

Authentication and/or validation of the identity and status ofparticipants, including any of the other system components, may beperformed by the authentication module 514, which preferably has accessto the records residing in storage device 520. In one embodiment,authentication module 514 authenticates and/or validates the identity,status, and/or affiliation of supplementary members participating in thesystem.

With reference to FIG. 6, an exemplary rewards server 602 includes acentral processor 604 in communication with other elements of therewards server 602 through a system interface or bus 606. A suitabledisplay device/input device 608, such as a keyboard or pointing devicein combination with a monitor, may be provided for receiving data fromand outputting data to a user of the system. A memory 610, which isassociated with the rewards server 602, includes a variety of softwaremodules, such as an association module 612, a rewards calculation module614, a data analysis module 616, and a filtering module 618 for example.The memory 610 preferably further includes an operating system 620 whichenables execution by central processor 604 of the various softwareapplications residing at the various modules 612, 614, 616, and 618.Operating system 620 may be any suitable operating system, as describedabove. Preferably, a network interface 622 is provided for suitablyinterfacing with other elements of the incentive awards system, such asthe elements described above with reference to FIGS. 1, 3, and 4.

Lastly, a storage device 624, such as a database as described above forexample, preferably contains files or records which are accessed by thevarious software modules 612, 614, 616, and 618. In particular,manufacturer data 626 comprises information received from amanufacturer, such as descriptions or other information regarding themanufacturer's products and/or services as well as UPC data for example.Retailer data 628 comprises information received from a retailer, suchas descriptions or other information regarding the retailer's productsand/or services as well as SKU data for example. Consumer data 630comprises information pertaining to a consumer, including a consumer IDor supplementary member ID, purchase data, a consumer profile orsupplementary member profile, and/or the like. One skilled in the artwill appreciate that the storage device 624 and, therefore, manufacturerdata 626, retailer data 628, and consumer data 630 may be co-locatedwith the rewards server 602 or may be remotely located with respect tothe rewards server 602. If the storage device 624 is remotely locatedwith respect to the rewards server 602, communication between storagedevice 624 and rewards server 602 may be accomplished by any suitablecommunication link but is preferably accomplished through a privateintranet or extranet.

Referring next to FIGS. 7 and 8, the process flows depicted in thesefigures are merely exemplary embodiments of the invention and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention as described above. It willbe appreciated that the following description makes appropriatereference not only to the steps depicted in FIGS. 7 and 8 but also tothe various system components as described above with reference to FIGS.1, 3, and 4.

FIG. 7 is flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for capturing andprocessing POS SKU data in accordance with the present invention. Theassociation or matching of UPC and SKU data begins with POS data capture(step 702). When a consumer presents a consumer ID or supplementarymember ID to a retailer 104 at the time of purchasing an item from theretailer 104, the consumer ID or supplementary member ID is processed bya rewards terminal 116 that recognizes the consumer ID or supplementarymember ID and identifies the consumer as a participant in the system100. Purchase data is captured by the retailer POS terminal 112.Purchase data may include any of the data types noted above. Forexample, purchase data may include any of the following: a SKU number; aunit price; a total transaction price; the payment vehicle(s) used; astore ID which identifies the particular store location if a retaileroperates more than one store; a department ID, if the store has multipledepartments; the date of the transaction; the time of the transaction;the employee ID of the store clerk who facilitates the transaction; aPOS terminal ID to identify the particular terminal conducting thetransaction; any retailer-specific incentive program ID; and/or thelike. The retailer POS terminal 112 creates a transaction filecomprising the consumer data (including a consumer ID or supplementarymember ID) and purchase data (including a SKU number associated witheach item purchased), and the transaction file is then stored by theretailer processor 110 in database 111 (step 704).

The various transaction files may be consolidated by the retailerprocessor 110 and then forwarded to the retailer regional processor 114(step 706) for further back-office and cumulative data analysisperformed by retailer 104.

In an exemplary embodiment, the transaction file is transmitted byeither of the retailer processor 110 or the retailer regional processor114 to the rewards server 120 (step 708). The SKU information for eachitem included in the transaction file is then matched to or associatedwith corresponding UPC information which identifies the relatedmanufacturer 106. An exemplary association process is illustrated in theflowchart of FIG. 8. Association of SKU and UPC data may be accomplishedthrough any data association technique known and practiced in the art.For example, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/orthe like.

In an exemplary embodiment, database 121 receives and storesmanufacturer data, including UPC data, from manufacturer 106 (step 802).Database 121 also receives and stores retailer data, including SKUnumbers, from retailer 104 (step 804). In an exemplary implementation,database 121 stores manufacturer data in a separate manufacturer datatable for each participating manufacturer 106. Each manufacturer datatable may comprise a plurality of fields, such as “UPC” and “productdescription” for example, and a plurality of records, each of whichcorresponds to an item offered by the participating manufacturer 106. Inone embodiment, database 121 stores retailer data in a separate retailerdata table for each participating retailer 104. Each retailer data tablemay comprise a plurality of fields, such as “SKU” and “productdescription”, for example, and a plurality of records, each recordcorresponding to an item offered by a participating retailer 104.

Data from each of the manufacturer and the retailer data tables are thenassociated (step 806). The association step may be accomplished by adatabase merge function, for example, using a “key field” in each of themanufacturer and retailer data tables. A “key field” partitions thedatabase according to the high-level class of objects defined by the keyfield. For example, a “product description” class may be designated as akey field in both the manufacturer data table and the retailer datatable, and the two data tables may then be merged on the basis of the“product description” data in the key field. In this embodiment, thedata corresponding to the key field in each of the merged data tables ispreferably the same. That is, the product descriptions in themanufacturer data table matches the product descriptions in the retailerdata table. However, manufacturer and retailer data tables havingsimilar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be mergedby using AGREP, for example.

The result of the data association step is the creation of a separatedata table, such as a UPC/SKU lookup table for example (step 808). Thus,when the rewards server 120 receives the data (e.g., consumer ID orsupplementary member ID and SKU data) captured by the POS terminal (step810), the rewards server 120 may search the UPC/SKU lookup table for theappropriate SKU number and then match the SKU to the corresponding UPCdata (step 812). In an exemplary embodiment, the “SKU” and “UPC” fieldsin the UPC/SKU data table may be linked by an appropriate pointer. Thatis, when the rewards server 120 searches the UPC/SKU table and locatesthe particular SKU that has been captured and transmitted by the POSterminal, the specifically identified SKU datafield uses a pointer todirect the rewards server 120 to the UPC datafield that corresponds tothat SKU number. In an exemplary embodiment, the UPC datafield may belinked by one or more additional pointers to other key fields, such as aconsumer ID or supplementary member ID, a retailer ID, a manufacturerID, and/or a third-party ID. These additional pointers may be used asmeans for compiling data which may be useful in any of the various dataanalyses performed by the rewards server 120. In this manner, theassociation of POS SKU numbers and UPC data may be used to create acontext in which standardized, network-wide analyses may be conducted.In one embodiment, the system is thereby enabled to track the purchasingbehaviors of supplementary members as well as primary members.

In an exemplary embodiment, the rewards server 120 utilizes theassociation information to calculate the reward points generated by aconsumer's purchase. For example, an appropriate series of pointersleading from a SKU to a UPC to a manufacturer ID may ultimately directthe rewards server 120 to employ a 2-for-1 manufacturer rewards ratio toaward a consumer twice as many points as the dollar amount of theconsumer's total transaction price. In another exemplary embodiment, anappropriate series of pointers may result in the calculation of rewardpoints based upon multiple rewards criteria, such as rewards criteriaassociated with the manufacturer of the item as well as rewards criteriaassociated with a third-party provider for example.

In a further embodiment, the rewards server 120 may use the associationof UPC and SKU number data to analyze a variety of marketing variablesacross multiple manufacturers and retailers. For example, rewards server120 may use a series of pointers leading from an SKU to a UPC and thento a “consumer profile” field (or a “supplementary member profile”field) or a table to correlate, for instance, consumer spendingbehaviors, particular manufacturers, and/or specific products acrossmultiple retailers for example.

In alternative embodiments, association of the UPC data and SKU numbermay take place at any of the rewards terminal 116, the retailer POSterminal 112, the retailer processor 110, the retailer regionalprocessor 114 (or a retailer national processor), and/or the centralrewards mechanism 102.

In one embodiment, the retailer 104 may offer an incentive or loyaltyprogram that is independent from the program offered by the system 100.Alternatively, the retailer 104 may use the system's UPC data for itsown internal purposes.

With momentary reference to FIG. 7, in one exemplary embodiment, theconsumer ID or supplementary member ID and the earned rewardsinformation are transmitted to the central rewards mechanism 102 afterthe rewards server 120 has filtered out consumer data associated withthe consumer ID or supplementary member ID (step 710). In anotherembodiment, the central rewards mechanism 102 may use the captured andmatched UPC information to determine rewards and/or for data analysis.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, FIG. 9 is a diagramillustrating an exemplary profiling system 900. Profiling system 900 maybe used to generate and analyze purchaser profiles. In one embodiment,the purchaser profiles may be used to effectively market products andservices to consumers. For example, the profiling system 900 permits thecross-selling of goods and services in a manner that was previouslythought to be impractical, if not impossible. That is, the comprehensivenature of the data made available through profiling system 900 permitsnetwork-wide, product-level knowledge of a consumer's specificpurchasing patterns across retailers. This knowledge may be used todevelop targeted marketing strategies which can enhance relationshipsbetween and among manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.

For instance, if a consumer purchases both Product 1 (e.g., a digitalvideo disc) and Product 2 (e.g., a compact disc) in a given month, andif the consumer makes these purchases using a consumer ID, thenprofiling system 900 maintains a record of both these purchases,regardless of whether the products were purchased from differentretailers. Appropriate analytics on the data stored by profiling system900 may then be used to determine that this consumer may be a candidatefor purchasing similar or related products or services (e.g., a surroundsound audio system in the case of the examples above). The heightenedawareness provided by profiling system 900 of a consumer's particularsituation permits the use of targeted marketing efforts that present theconsumer with specialized offers or other promotions that are likely toelicit additional purchases by that consumer. Not only does this benefitmanufacturers and retailers, but the consumer is benefited by being madeaware of promotional offers and/or discounts on products and servicesthat are in fact relevant to the consumer.

In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 9, profiling system 900comprises a central rewards mechanism 902, a retailer/merchant system904, a profiler 906, a profiler interface 922, and an end-user 924. Itwill be appreciated that the system 900 may comprise any number ofretailer systems 904 and any number of end-users 924. Moreover, it willbe appreciated that central rewards mechanism 902 (and/or any of itssub-components) and profiler 906 may be separate components or may beintegrated to form a single component. It will also be appreciated thatprofiler 906 and profiler interface 922 may be separate components ormay be integrated for form a single component.

The central rewards mechanism 902 is substantially similar to, and maycomprise any of the components of, central rewards mechanism 102 and/orcentral rewards mechanism 502, as described above with reference toFIGS. 1, 3, 4, and 5. Moreover, central rewards mechanism 902 may beconfigured to include any of the functionality described above withreference to central rewards mechanism 102 and/or central rewardsmechanism 502. In particular, central rewards mechanism 902 comprises anenrollment module 912, which is substantially similar to enrollmentmodule 512 of FIG. 5, and a storage device 920, which is substantiallysimilar to storage device 520 of FIG. 5. In one embodiment, enrollmentmodule 912 receives consumer enrollment data from consumers and thenprocesses and transmits the consumer enrollment data to storage device920 for storage and future retrieval.

In an exemplary embodiment, the retailer system 904 comprises a retailerterminal 908 and a retailer processor 910. The retailer processor 910may be in communication with a database 911. The retailer system 904 issubstantially similar to, and may comprise any of the components of,retailer system 104, as described above with reference to FIGS. 1, 3,and 4. Moreover, retailer system 904 may be configured to include any ofthe functionality described above with reference to retailer system 104.Retailer terminal 908 is substantially similar to, and may comprise anyof the components and/or functionality of, retailer terminal 108;retailer processor 910 is substantially similar to, and may comprise anyof the components and/or functionality of, retailer processor 110; anddatabase 911 is substantially similar to, and may comprise any of thecomponents and/or functionality of, database 111.

As described in detail above with reference to retailer terminal 108,the retailer terminal 908 records consumer purchases, either online(such as at a merchant web site for example) or offline (such as at aretailer store for example), and then transmits the purchase data toretailer processor 910. Retailer processor 910 processes and suitablystores the purchase data. Retailer processor 910 is in communicationwith a suitable database 911 or other storage device for maintaining andstoring purchase data and/or any other suitable retailer information.

In one embodiment, profiler 906 comprises a data conditioner 914, a dataanalytics module 916, and a detail database 918. As illustrated in FIG.10, an exemplary profiler 906 further includes a processor 926 incommunication with other elements of profiler 906 through an interfaceor bus 928. A suitable display/input device 930, such as a keyboard orpointing device in combination with a monitor, may be provided forreceiving data from and outputting data to a user of profiler 906. Amemory 932 associated with profiler 906 includes a data conditioner 914and an analytics module 916. Memory 932 preferably further includes anoperating system 934 which enables execution by processor 926 of thesoftware applications residing at data conditioner 914 and analyticsmodule 916. Operating system 934 may be any suitable operating system,as described above. The detail database 918 may be any type of database,such as relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.Common database products that may be used to implement database 918include DB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), any of the database productsavailable from Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), any of thedatabase products available from Sybase, Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.),Microsoft Access by Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any otherdatabase product. In one embodiment, a network interface 936 is providedfor interfacing the profiler 906 with other elements of the profilingsystem 900, described herein with reference to FIG. 9.

With reference once again to FIG. 9, profiling system 900 furtherincludes a profiler interface 922 and an end-user 924. Profilerinterface 922 may comprise any device or system that permits access todata that is maintained and/or generated by profiler 906. In oneembodiment, profiler interface 922 permits an end-user 924 to accessprofiler 906 and retrieve data maintained or generated by profiler 906.End-user 924 may include any person, entity, charitable organization,machine, software, hardware, and/or the like that may seek access todata that is maintained and/or generated by profiler 906. In oneembodiment, end-user 924 may be any of a retailer, a manufacturer, aconsumer, or a third-party provider. In another embodiment, the end-user924 may be the system administrator.

Communication between an end-user 924 and profiler interface 922 may beaccomplished through any suitable communication means, such as any ofthe means described in detail above, for example. In an exemplaryembodiment, profiler interface 922 is a web interface which comprises aweb server that enables an end-user 924 to communicate with profilerinterface 922 via a suitable communications link, such as the Internet,for example, to access data residing at profiler 906. In anotherembodiment, profiler interface 922 includes an authentication module(not shown) which authenticates and/or validates the identity and statusof end-users 924 who seek access to profiler 906. The authenticationmodule may have access to a suitable storage device, such as a databasefor example, which maintains records identifying authorized end-users924.

As will be described in greater detail below, profiling system 900 mayoptionally include a rewards server 938 (illustrated in FIG. 9 byphantom lines which represent that it is optional). The rewards server938 is substantially similar to, and may comprise any of the componentsand/or functionality of, rewards server 120 and/or 602, as describedabove with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 6. If used, rewards server 938receives a transaction file (i.e., purchase data (including a retaileritem identifier, such as a SKU for example) resulting from a consumertransaction) from the retailer system 904 and standardizes thetransaction file by associating the retailer item identifier with acorresponding manufacturer item identifier (e.g., a UPC). By translatingor converting SKU data into corresponding UPC data, the goods and/orservices that are part of each consumer transaction are characterized ina uniform manner that facilitates data analysis, regardless of thenumber of participating retailers. It will be appreciated that, if used,the rewards server 938 may be a separate component from profiler 906 ormay be integrated with profiler 906.

In another embodiment of profiling system 900, profiler 906 mayoptionally comprise a warranty module 940 (illustrated in FIG. 9 byphantom lines which represent that it is optional). In this embodiment,the warranty module may be used to search detail database 918 forpurchase data relating to manufacturers' warranties. In one embodiment,a consumer who has purchased a product that has a manufacturer'swarranty may be informed by profiler 906, via profiler interface 922 anda suitable communications link (such as through email over the Internetfor example), of any available opportunities to purchase an extendedwarranty plan. In another embodiment, a consumer may be informed byprofiler 906 of any available opportunities to purchase an extendedwarranty plan for a product whose manufacturer's warranty is about toexpire.

Referring next to FIGS. 11 and 12, the process flows depicted in thesefigures are merely exemplary embodiments of the invention and are notintended to limit the scope of the invention as described above. It willbe appreciated that the following description makes appropriatereference not only to the steps depicted in FIGS. 11 and 12 but also tothe various system components as described above with reference to FIGS.9 and 10.

FIG. 11 is flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for generating apurchaser profile for a consumer or a group of consumers. Generating apurchaser profile begins with enrolling a consumer in the system of theinvention (step 1102). As described above, enrollment is accomplished bycentral rewards mechanism 902. That is, enrollment module 912 receivesand processes the consumer enrollment data, facilitates issuance of aconsumer ID to the consumer, and transmits the consumer enrollment datato storage device 920. In this context, the term “consumer ID” shall beunderstood to include “supplementary member ID”. After a consumer isenrolled in the system, the consumer may use the consumer ID during atransaction with a retailer system 904.

When a consumer uses a consumer ID, the consumer ID, together with thepurchase data associated with the retailer transaction, is captured atthe point-of-sale (step 1104). That is, when a consumer presents aconsumer ID to a retailer 904 at the time of purchasing an item from theretailer 904, the consumer ID is processed by a rewards terminal 908that recognizes the consumer ID and identifies the consumer as aparticipant in the system 900. Purchase data is then captured by theretailer terminal 908. Purchase data may include any of the data typesnoted above. For example, purchase data may include any of thefollowing: a SKU number; a unit price; a total transaction price; thepayment vehicle(s) used; a store ID which identifies the particularstore location if a retailer operates more than one store; a departmentID, if the store has multiple departments; the date of the transaction;the time of the transaction; the employee ID of the store clerk whofacilitates the transaction; a retailer terminal ID to identify theparticular terminal conducting the transaction; any retailer-specificincentive program ID; any product warranty that may apply, as well asthe terms of the warranty; and/or the like. The retailer terminal 908creates and processes a transaction file comprising consumer-identifyingdata (i.e., the consumer ID) and purchase data (including a SKU numberassociated with each item purchased) (step 1106). The transaction filemay then be stored by the retailer processor 910 in database 911.

Optionally, the transaction file may be transmitted by the retailersystem 904 to the rewards server 938 (step 1108). (Steps 1108 through1114 are illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 11 to represent that thesesteps are optional.) In this embodiment, the transaction file isstandardized by matching or associating the SKU information for eachitem included in the transaction file with corresponding UPC informationwhich identifies the manufacturer of the item and/or a generaldescription of the goods or services (step 1110). Association of SKU andUPC data may be accomplished through any data association techniqueknown and practiced in the art. For example, the association may beaccomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic associationtechniques may include, for example, a database search, a databasemerge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/or the like. An exemplary method forassociating SKU and UPC data is described above with reference to FIG.8. In this embodiment, after the rewards server 938 associates the SKUand UPC data, the rewards server 938 modifies or standardizes thattransaction file by including the UPC data (step 1112) and thentransmits the standardized transaction file to the profiler 906 (step1114). In one embodiment, the rewards server 938 transmits thestandardized transaction file to the data conditioner 914.

In an alternate embodiment, the transaction file is transmitted by theretailer system 904 to the profiler 906 (step 1116). In one embodiment,the transaction file is transmitted by retailer system 904 to the dataconditioner 914. In this embodiment, after data conditioner 914 hasreceived the transaction file, data conditioner 914 standardizes thetransaction file (step 1118). Since a given retailer will identify aproduct/service by an SKU that is relevant only to that retailer, it isuseful to identify and characterize products and services in a uniformmanner across retailers. Such standardization facilitates data analysisacross retailers, permits increased sophistication in the types ofanalyses that may be performed, and/or enhances the richness of theinformation derived from such analyses.

In one embodiment, data conditioner 914 standardizes the transactionfile by associating SKU and UPC data in a manner similar to thatdescribed above with reference to rewards server 938.

In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the data conditioner914 standardizes the transaction file by deriving a standard identifierfrom a SKU lookup table which is stored in a suitable database, such asdetail database 918 for example. In an exemplary embodiment, the SKUlookup table is created when detail database 918 receives and storesretailer data, such as SKU and related product or service data, forexample, transmitted to the detail database 918 by retailer system 904(step 1202). In an exemplary implementation, detail database 918 storesretailer data in a separate retailer data table for each participatingretailer system 904. Each retailer data table may comprise a pluralityof fields, such as “SKU” and “product description”, for example, and aplurality of records, each record corresponding to an item offered by aparticipating retailer 904. For each record stored in the retailer datatable, detail database 918 then generates, assigns, and stores as partof the record a standard identifier (step 1204). The standard identifieruniquely identifies an item stored in the data table and is linked tothe SKU that is also associated with that item (step 1206). The standardidentifier may be any suitable identifier, such as a number, a code, analphanumeric identifier, etc., that may be used to uniquely designate oridentify an item in the SKU lookup table. In an exemplary embodiment,the “SKU” and “standard identifier” fields in the SKU data table may belinked by an appropriate pointer.

The SKU lookup table is then used by data conditioner 914 to derive astandard identifier that corresponds to the specific product or servicerepresented by the particular retailer's SKU number in the transactionfile. Thus, when the data conditioner 914 receives the transaction file,the data conditioner 914 searches the SKU lookup table for theappropriate SKU number. That is, when the data conditioner 914 searchesthe SKU lookup table and locates the particular SKU that has beencaptured and transmitted by the retailer system 904, the specificallyidentified SKU datafield uses a pointer to direct the data conditioner914 to the standard identifier datafield that corresponds to that SKUnumber (step 1208). After data conditioner 914 derives a standardidentifier for each item included in the transaction file, the standardidentifier is then linked to, or stored as a part of, the transactionfile (step 1210).

As mentioned previously, while the SKU is an identifier that is definedby a particular retailer and has little meaning outside the retailersystem 904, the standard identifier is used to characterize a particularproduct or service across multiple retailers. For example, if SKU 1 isused by Retailer 1 to identify Product A, and if SKU 2 is used byRetailer 2 to identify Product A, Product A is identified by a singleStandard Identifier by profiler 906, regardless of the retailer system904 from which the transaction file containing data on Product Aoriginated. The SKU lookup table may be maintained by the systemadministrator and updated periodically with information received fromthe retailer systems 904.

In another embodiment, the retailer system 904 standardizes thetransaction file prior to transmitting the transaction file to theprofiler 906. In one embodiment, retailer system 904 standardizes thetransaction file by associating SKU and UPC data, as described abovewith reference to rewards server 938. In another embodiment, retailersystem 904 standardizes the transaction file by using a SKU lookuptable, as described above with reference to FIG. 12. After standardizingthe transaction file, the retailer system 904 transmits the standardizedtransaction file to profiler 906. Whether transmitted to reward server938 or profiler 906, a transaction file, whether or not it has beenstandardized prior to transmission, may be transmitted from retailersystem 904 either as part of a periodic batch process or in real time aseach transaction occurs.

Referring once again to FIG. 11, after the transaction file has beenstandardized, either by rewards server 938 or data conditioner 914,detail database 918 receives the standardized transaction file andqueries whether the consumer associated with the transaction filealready has an established record in the detail database 918 (step1120). If the consumer associated with the transaction file already hasan established record in detail database 918, as determined by a searchof detail database 918 by data conditioner 914 for the consumer IDcontained in the transaction file, then data conditioner 914 writes thenewly obtained transaction file to the established record in detaildatabase 918 (step 1122), thereby updating the consumer's record toreflect the additional purchases. This updated record may then be usedby analytics module 916 to generate a purchaser profile, as described ingreater detail below (step 1130).

If the consumer associated with the transaction file does not have anestablished record in detail database 918, as determined by dataconditioner 914 based upon a search of detail database 918, then dataconditioner 914 creates a new record in detail database 918 for thestandardized transaction file (step 1124). The data conditioner 914 thenmerges consumer enrollment data stored by central rewards mechanism 902with the standardized transaction file. That is, for each standardizedtransaction file that is written to detail database 918 as a new record,data conditioner 914 requests and receives consumer enrollment data fromcentral rewards mechanism 902 (step 1126). The request identifies theconsumer ID associated with the transaction file and asks that consumerenrollment data associated with the consumer ID be transmitted from thecentral rewards mechanism 902 to data conditioner 914. The centralrewards mechanism 902 retrieves the appropriate consumer enrollment datafile from storage device 920 and then transmits the consumer enrollmentdata to data conditioner 914. Data conditioner 914 then merges theconsumer enrollment data with the standardized transaction filecontained in the newly created record in detail database 918 (step1128).

The standardized transaction file and the consumer enrollment data maybe merged by any suitable database merge function, such as by using a“key field” (as described above) within each of the records stored instorage device 920 and detail database 918. In one embodiment, thestandardized transaction file and the consumer enrollment data aremerged using a key field which corresponds to a consumer ID datafield.

Analytics module 916 generates purchaser profiles by accessing and usingthe data in detail database 918 (step 1130). As will be appreciated, anyknown methods for performing data analysis, analytics, econometrics,modeling, data mining, marketing analyses, etc., may make use of thecombined consumer enrollment data and purchase data stored in detaildatabase 918. Analytics module 916 may generate purchaser profiles inthe form of reports, summary data sheets, spread sheets, graphicaloutput, combinations of these, and/or the like. The purchaser profilesmay be stored by detail database 918, viewed on a display screen (e.g.,display device 930), printed, transmitted to an end-user 924, and/or thelike.

An end-user 924 can access profiler 906 through profiler interface 922.In one embodiment, an end-user 924 may be enabled to use profilerinterface 922 to accomplish one or more of the following: (1) useanalytics module 916 to run analytics on any of (or selected parts of)the data stored in detail database 918; (2) use analytics module 916 torun analytics on summary data that is stored in detail database 918; (3)access detail database 918, download particular data to the end-user'ssystem, and run specific end-user analytics (i.e., analytics whichreside at end-user 924) to generate custom purchaser profiles based uponan end-user's particular requirements; and/or (4) access reports,summary data sheets, spread sheets, graphical output, combinations ofthese, and/or the like that are generated by analytics module 916 andstored by detail database 918.

It will be appreciated that the system 900 may be adapted to implement asuitable privacy policy which protects the personal information ofparticipating consumers. That is, the system 900 may limit access to thedata, or portions of the data, in a purchaser profile that is madeavailable to end-users 924 by profiler 906, depending upon the identityof end-user 924 and/or the wishes of a particular consumer. For example,the system 900 may, prior to enrolling a consumer, give the consumerappropriate notification regarding any and all potential disclosures ofconsumer enrollment data and/or purchase data and/or data residing in apurchaser profile that has been generated by the system. Moreover, thesystem may permit the consumer to identify the types of data that theconsumer does not authorize the system to disclose to end-users 924and/or to identify the types of end-users 924 whom the consumer does notwish to grant access to data regarding that consumer.

In general, the present invention includes facilitating the transfer ofloyalty points between accounts. In an exemplary embodiment, theinvention includes facilitating the substantially real-time transfer ofloyalty points between accounts. For example, a free airline flight mayrequire 20,000 points. If a consumer has a relative that is in anaccident and hospitalized in another state, the consumer may need toimmediately obtain an airline ticket to travel to the location of thehospitalized relative. However, if the consumer only has 19,000 pointsin his loyalty account, the consumer may request that a friend that hasan extra 1,000 loyalty points in her account immediately transfer the1,000 points to the consumer's loyalty account, thereby increasing thetotal loyalty points in the consumer's loyalty account to 20,000 loyaltypoints, thereby allowing the consumer to immediately utilize the 20,000loyalty points to obtain the airline ticket.

While the invention will be discussed in terms of a general transfer ofloyalty points, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the transfermay include a deduction from a first account and a crediting of a secondaccount. Moreover, the transfer may involve any portion of the pointstransferred in real-time, certain points transferred in a batchtransfer, certain points transferred upon a triggering event, certainpoints transferred over time and/or certain points transferred uponsatisfaction of a condition or rule.

In one embodiment, the system includes any hardware and/or softwarediscussed herein or known in the art suitably configured for receiving atransfer request (e.g., consumer request, triggering event, etc) for atransfer of a any portion of loyalty points, accessing and analyzing thetotal number of loyalty points in the transferor account to determine ifa sufficient number of points exist, analyzing the type/level ofconsumer and type/level of points to be involved in the transfer,determining if any rules exist for restricting or limiting the transferof points, using a conversion engine to convert the point value to anappropriate point value in the transferee account, deducting therequested loyalty points from the transferor account, and increasing thepoint balance in the transferee account.

Loyalty points may be located in a consumer account wherein the consumeraccount may be associated with a consumer ID. As previously describedabove in more detail, the consumer account and consumer ID may includeany form of account or identification for an account. The consumeraccount may be associated with an organization, a primary member, asupplementary member and/or more than one member. Certain consumeraccounts may include aggregate consumer accounts which include aplurality of primary and/or supplementary members. As such, the transferof points as discussed herein may include the transfer of points betweenprimary and supplementary members, between primary members, betweensupplementary members and/or between a member and an organization.

The consumers may be classified into various levels, classes or typessuch that the transfer of points may be limited to transferring pointsbetween certain consumers only or between consumers in different levels,classes or types. For example, a Gold Club consumer may only be allowedto transfer points to other Gold Club consumers. In another embodiment,consumers associated with a certain organization or company can onlytransfer points to other consumers associated with the same organizationor company. For example, an IBM employee can transfer points to anotherIBM employee. In another embodiment, a consumer may only be allowed totransfer certain points to the consumer's employer or to a charitableorganization.

The loyalty point balance may be stored as a point total, a number, aletter, a level, a code, a value and/or the like. Moreover, the loyaltypoints may include various types, levels or classes of points such thatthe transfer of points may be limited to transferring only certainpoints between consumers. As such, while the point transfer is discussedherein with respect to deducting and increasing certain accounts, theinvention contemplates that the transfer may include a conversion ofpoints to another type, level or class without (or in addition to)deducting or increasing points. For example, the system may allow aconsumer to transfer level 1 points to other consumers, but not allowthe consumer to transfer level 2 points. When combined with previousembodiments, the system may also allow only certain types of points tobe transferred to only certain types of consumers. For example, onlylevel 1 points may be transferred to Gold Club consumers and only level2 points may be transferred to Green Club consumers. In anotherembodiment, loyalty points associated with different levels, classes ortypes may all be freely transferable to any consumer.

In accordance with the present invention, loyalty points associated witha certain loyalty system may be transferred to other loyalty pointaccounts within the same loyalty system or to a loyalty point account inany other loyalty point system. For example, Hilton Reward points may betransferred to a United Airlines frequent flyer account. In oneembodiment, a conversion engine facilitates any point value conversionsthat may be appropriate. For example, if a consumer desires to transferfive hundred Hilton Reward points to a United Airlines frequent flyeraccount, the conversion engine may determine that the five hundredHilton Rewards points only translate into one hundred United Airlinesfrequent flyer points. As such, the system would only increase theUnited Airlines frequent flyer account by one hundred points. The rulesor formulas associated with the conversion engine may be pre-establishedby the loyalty point system hosts.

The transfer of any portion of loyalty points in a consumer account maybe initiated upon a triggering event such as, for example, a request bythe transferor, a request by a transferee, a request by a loyalty systemhost, a request by a third party, a transfer on a certain date or time,a percentage of points transferred during certain time periods and/or anautomatic transfer upon a pre-established condition or data point. Forexample, the system may include a pre-established condition that anypoints in excess of 100,000 points are automatically transferred to asupplementary account. In another embodiment, upon each birthday of acertain child, the child's loyalty account is credited a certain amountof points from the parent loyalty account. Similarly, on everyemployment yearly anniversary date, an employee may receive 50,000loyalty points from her employer loyalty account. In another embodiment,a pre-established condition may be a transfer of loyalty points basedupon input of public or private data points. For example, transferring30,000 loyalty points when the stock market rises above 10,000, companyrevenue exceeds $2 million or the company stock hits $20.

The transfer may also include certain conditions that must be met priorto, during and/or after the transfer. If certain conditions are not met,the transfer may be voided or expire and/or any portion of the loyaltypoints may be returned to the original transferor, to the loyaltysystem, to another consumer loyalty account or to any other third party.For example, after receiving transferred loyalty points, if thetransferee does not earn a certain amount of loyalty points on her own,the transferred loyalty points are transferred to another supplementarymember.

The consumer, loyalty system and/or any other third party may alsoestablish certain rules or criteria for determining which consumers orloyalty point accounts should participate in the transfer of points, theportion of points that are transferred, and which loyalty accountsshould be credited with the transferred points. The rules may include atransfer of points upon, for example, consumer accounts having loyaltypoint balances which are below a certain threshold amount, consumeraccounts which have remained inactive for a certain time period or arequest by the consumer or a third party. For example, the system maystore a rule that flags any account that includes less than 500 points.Moreover, the system may allow a consumer to enter a webpage or call acustomer service representative to request that the consumer's ownaccount be flagged such that the system will transfer any requestednumber of loyalty points to a second loyalty account upon a certaincondition related to setting the flag. The transfer of points may occurat any predetermined time periods, certain dates, random dates and/oronly at a requested time. The amount of points to transfer may include aset amount of points, all of the points, any subset of points, anincreasing amount of points, a decreasing amount of points and/or anamount of points based upon a certain formula, event or non-event (e.g.,transfer 500 points away from a consumer loyalty account for each monththe consumer does not rent a car from a particular rental company).

The system may also credit any portion of the loyalty points to one ormore loyalty point accounts. For example, the consumer may request thatthe loyalty points be transferred to an account associated with a familymember, a friend, a charitable organization and/or the like. In thismanner, while the individual consumer accounts include minimal amountsof points which are often insufficient for the individual consumer toutilize for any large reward item, the charitable organization may beable to acquire a large amount of points from numerous consumer accountsin order to obtain larger reward items.

After the system checks any established rules, the system determineswhich consumer accounts meet the rules. The system may then flag theparticular accounts and send a list of consumer accounts which meet therules to the host system. In another embodiment, the loyalty system mayestablish or activate accounts associated with other people ororganizations that may receive the transferred points, such as, forexample, a United Way account. In one embodiment, the system may notifythe consumer of the transfer of the points and/or provide the consumerwith the option to keep the consumer account open or to close theconsumer account if all points are transferred to another account. Thesystem may then eliminate, close, or flag as inactive the consumeraccount. By transferring the loyalty points from certain inactiveconsumer accounts to the accounts of consumers that desire the extrapoints, the loyalty system eliminates or reduces the number of loyaltypoint accounts from its system, thereby reducing the sponsoring companyaccounting liabilities and providing new options for the consumers toredeem the points or aggregated points in another loyalty program.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciated thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. Thespecification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative manner,rather than a restrictive one, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present invention. Accordingly, thescope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims andtheir legal equivalents, rather than by the examples given above. Forexample, the steps recited in any of the method or process claims may beexecuted in any order and are not limited to the order presented in theclaims.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, noelement described herein is required for the practice of the inventionunless expressly described as “essential” or “critical”.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: transforming, by a hostcomputer for creating loyalty points, a consumer identifier, a purchaseprice and a first currency to point ratio corresponding to a retaileritem identifier, into a first set of loyalty points; transforming, by asaid host computer, said consumer identifier, said purchase price and asecond currency to point ratio corresponding to a manufacturer itemidentifier, into a second set of loyalty points; transforming, by saidhost computer, said consumer identifier, said purchase price and a thirdcurrency to point ratio corresponding to a Service Establishment (SE)number, into a third set of loyalty points; combining, by a said hostcomputer, said first set of loyalty points, said second set of loyaltypoints, and said third set of loyalty points within a first loyaltyaccount associated with said consumer identifier; and enabling, by saidhost computer, use of said first loyalty account to facilitate obtainingan item.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitating obtainingsaid item comprises using at least a portion of said first loyalty pointbalance to at least one of purchase, rent, or lease said item.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said facilitating obtaining said itemcomprises using at least a portion of said first loyalty point balancealong with at least one of a monetary amount or loyalty points fromanother account.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receivinga request, at said host computer, to define a trigger event, whereinsaid trigger event causes an automatic transfer of at least one of saidfirst set of loyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, or saidthird set of loyalty points from said first loyalty account to a secondloyalty account.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting,at said host computer, a trigger event for transforming, wherein saidtrigger event is at least one of: a date, a balance of said firstloyalty account, market conditions, or revenue changes.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising transforming, at said host computer, a firstconsumer type, a first consumer level, and a first consumer classassociated with said consumer identifier, into at least one of saidfirst set of loyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, or saidthird set of loyalty points.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transferring, at said host computer, at least one of saidfirst set of loyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, or saidthird set of loyalty points from said first loyalty account to a secondloyalty account, based upon a first consumer type, a first consumerlevel, and a first consumer class associated with said consumeridentifier.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising transforming,at said host computer, a point type, a point level, and a point classassociated with said consumer identifier, into at least one of saidfirst set of loyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, or saidthird set of loyalty points.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transforming, at said host computer, a first point type, afirst point level, and a first point class to a second point type, asecond point level, and a second point class.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising transforming, at said host computer, a portion ofsaid first loyalty point balance from a first point value to a secondpoint value in response to said first loyalty account and said secondloyalty account having different valuations.
 11. The method of claim 1,further comprising receiving a request to enable use of said firstloyalty account from at least one a consumer associated with saidconsumer identifier, a retailer associated with said retaileridentifier, a manufacturer associated with said manufacturer itemidentifier, or a third party.
 12. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising transferring at least one of said first set of loyaltypoints, said second set of loyalty points, or said third set of loyaltypoints from said first loyalty account to a second loyalty account. 13.The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring at least one ofsaid first set of loyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, orsaid third set of loyalty points from said first loyalty account to asecond loyalty account in response to at least one of a date, an event,a non-event, a balance of said first loyalty account, market conditions,revenue changes, or said first loyalty account remaining inactive. 14.The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving and processing, atsaid host computer, a purchase transaction, wherein said purchasetransaction includes said consumer identifier, said retailer itemidentifier, and said purchase price.
 15. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising retrieving, at said host computer, said manufacturer itemidentifier corresponding to said retail item identifier.
 16. The methodof claim 1, further comprising deducting, as a transaction fee, abalance associated with said first loyalty account.
 17. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising notifying at least one a consumer associatedwith said consumer identifier, a retailer associated with said retaileridentifier, a manufacturer associated with said manufacturer itemidentifier, or a third party regarding at least one of said first set ofloyalty points, said second set of loyalty points, or said third set ofloyalty points.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising trackingat least one of said first set of loyalty points, said second set ofloyalty points, or said third set of loyalty points within said firstloyalty account.
 19. An article of manufacture including anon-transitory, tangible computer readable medium having instructionsstored thereon that, in response to execution by a host computer forcreating loyalty points, cause said host computer to perform operationscomprising: transforming, by said host computer, a consumer identifier,a purchase price and a first currency to point ratio corresponding to aretailer item identifier, into a first set of loyalty points;transforming, by said host computer, said consumer identifier, saidpurchase price and a second currency to point ratio corresponding to amanufacturer item identifier, into a second set of loyalty points;transforming, by said host computer, said consumer identifier, saidpurchase price and a third currency to point ratio corresponding to aService Establishment (SE) number, into a third set of loyalty points;combining, by said host computer, said first set of loyalty points, saidsecond set of loyalty points, and said third set of loyalty pointswithin a first loyalty account associated with said consumer identifier;and enabling, by said host computer, use of said first loyalty accountto facilitate obtaining an item.
 20. A system comprising: a processorfor creating loyalty points, a tangible, non-transitory memoryconfigured to communicate with said processor, the tangible,non-transitory memory having instructions stored thereon that, inresponse to execution by said processor, cause said processor to performoperations comprising: transforming, by said processor, a consumeridentifier, a purchase price and a first currency to point ratiocorresponding to a retailer item identifier, into a first set of loyaltypoints; transforming, by said processor, said consumer identifier, saidpurchase price and a second currency to point ratio corresponding to amanufacturer item identifier, into a second set of loyalty points;transforming, by said processor, said consumer identifier, said purchaseprice and a third currency to point ratio corresponding to a ServiceEstablishment (SE) number, into a third set of loyalty points;combining, by said processor, said first set of loyalty points, saidsecond set of loyalty points, and said third set of loyalty pointswithin a first loyalty account associated with said consumer identifier;and enabling, by said processor, use of said first loyalty account tofacilitate obtaining an item.